Biolabs data in Ukraine confirms BTWC claims against US: Zakharova
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Ukraine destroyed dangerous evidence of its doing in Biolabs.
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Military exercise for radiation accidents in Bolshoy Kamen, Russia, 2013. (Kovalenko Alexander)
Data on biological laboratories found in Ukraine confirms the claims against the United States regarding its compliance with the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BTWC), Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Tuesday.
On Sunday Russian defense ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov announced that Russia would provide an analysis of documents on a program for the creation of biological weapons components in Ukraine.
"Documentation was received from employees of Ukrainian biological laboratories on the emergency destruction of especially dangerous pathogens of plague, anthrax, tularemia, cholera, and other deadly diseases on February 24. The emergency destruction of especially dangerous pathogens on February 24 was required to prevent the disclosure of facts of violations by Ukraine and the United States of Article I of the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BTWC)," Zakharova said in a statement.
Russia's claims were validated as per the information provided.
"We do not rule out the activation of the mechanisms of Articles V and VI of the BTWC, according to which the participating States must consult with each other in resolving any issues regarding the purpose of the Convention or in connection with the implementation of its provisions, as well as cooperate in conducting any investigations ito possible violations of obligations under the BTWC," she said.
Yesterday, Monday, Russian forces found 30 biological laboratories in Ukraine, possibly used to develop biological weapons.
"The Russian Defense Ministry has repeatedly drawn attention to the military biological programs that are being implemented by the Pentagon in post-Soviet countries, including on the territory of Ukraine, where a network of more than 30 biological laboratories has been formed, which can be divided into research and sanitary-epidemiological ones," Kirillov said.
The client is Pentagon's Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA), in conjunction with a company affiliated with the military department, namely Black and Veatch, which is involved with implementing the projects, according to Kirillov.
There are three main areas in which work in the labs is being carried out. According to the Pentagon, the labs monitor the biological situation in proposed areas for NATO deployment, collect and export strains of dangerous microorganisms to the United States, and conduct research work on potential agents of biological weapons specific to particular regions having natural foci and could be transmitted to humans, Kirillov noted.
Kirillov said since 2021, the Pentagon has been carrying on with a project called "Diagnostics, Surveillance, and Prevention of Zoonotic Diseases in the Armed Forces of Ukraine," which cost $11.8 million. In 2021, the German Defense Ministry carried out a study of pathogens of the Congo-Crimean hemorrhagic disease in Ukraine. As part of the Ukrainian-German initiative, fever, leptospirosis, meningitis, and hantaviruses were studied in order to ensure biological security at the external borders of the EU.
This may be part of the narrative that serves to say the initiative aims to seek treatment for COVID-19; however, many thousand serum samples - mostly from the Slavic ethnic group - were taken from Ukraine to the Walter Reed Research Institute of the US Army, according to Kirillov.
