Russia repeats warning against West's biological weapons threat

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Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov stated that Moscow eyes the West's military and biological activity as a threat to Russia's security.

In a statement, Ryabkov said the uncontrolled activity of the US biological warfare necessitates global observation and monitoring, as per the Russian Foreign Ministry's website.

"We consider such activity by Western countries, including in former Soviet republics, as a real threat to the national security of the Russian Federation and other states - primarily those on whose territory it is conducted," he said.

Furthermore, Ryabkov revealed that the US is massively building and upgrading microbiological laboratories worldwide, most notably in Ukraine.

Last month, the head of the radiation, chemical, and biological defense troops of the Russian Armed Forces Igor Kirillov revealed that the US has resumed the program for the construction of biological laboratories in Ukraine and is expanding the format to train Ukrainian biologists,

"Despite the forced pause pertaining to the Russian special military operation [in Ukraine], [the US’] activities under the program have now been resumed. The main tasks at this stage are to continue the construction of biological laboratories in Ukraine, as well as expand the format for training Ukrainian biologists," Kirillov said.

According to the Russian official, this conclusion is based on the analysis of the minutes of the meeting of the working group of US and Ukrainian specialists under the leadership of representatives of the US Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) dated October 20, 2022, on the plans for the implementation of the "Biological Threat Reduction Program" in Ukraine.

Shortly after, Kirillov warned that the United States is creating components of biological weapons in the immediate vicinity of Russia's borders.

According to him, over 2,000 documents of different projects and plans were analyzed by Russia, which confirmed Washington's plans to develop bioweapons in Ukraine.

"I would like to note that none of the facts announced by the Russian Defense Ministry were rejected by the United States, no one, including Western countries, had doubts about the authenticity of the published documents," Kirillov said.

US admits to running biowarfare labs in Ukraine

In June last year, the Pentagon admitted that the US government supported 46 biological research facilities in Ukraine for the past 20 years and that Russia and China were responsible for "spreading disinformation and sowing mistrust" about its efforts to rid the world of weapons of mass destruction (WMD).

The Pentagon claimed that these facilities were part of a peaceful public health project and were not focused on developing biological weapons, saying that the US has “worked collaboratively to improve Ukraine’s biological safety, security, and disease surveillance for both human and animal health.” 

Six months later in January, Kirillov declared that "Russian troops have secured over 20,000 documents, reference and analytical materials, and interviewed eyewitnesses and participants in American military-biological programs," since the start of the special operation in Ukraine.