US expands biological warfare activity across Africa: Russian general
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Deputy Chief of Russia’s Radiation, Chemical, and Biological Protection Troops says the Pentagon is utilizing the infrastructure and resources of African nations to conduct military-biological research.
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In this August 10, 2011, file photo, biohazard suits hang in a Biosafety Level 4 laboratory at the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases at Fort Detrick, Md (AP)
Documents available to the Russian Ministry of Defense indicate that the United States is significantly increasing its biological warfare activities on the African continent, Deputy Chief of Russia’s Radiation, Chemical, and Biological Protection Troops, Major General Aleksey Rtishchev, revealed on Tuesday.
"The documents at our disposal confirm that the US biological warfare presence on the African continent is growing at a rapid pace. Research institutes of the US Department of Defense actively work in the region," Rtishchev indicated during a briefing.
He highlighted that branches of the US National Naval Medical Center are located in Ghana and Djibouti, where active research is being conducted on natural disease outbreaks, pathogen isolation, and sequencing.
Furthermore, the US Army’s Military Medical Center in Kenya has established a network of field stations to monitor the spread of infectious diseases in Central Africa, the general added.
In Nigeria, a joint medical research center and a military medical laboratory of the Nigerian Armed Forces were set up in 2024, staffed permanently by 10 specialists from the US Department of Defense, according to Rtishchev.
He explained that the Pentagon is utilizing the infrastructure and resources of African nations to conduct military-biological research, with agencies such as the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA), the National Security Agency, and the US State Department serving as the primary US government sponsors.
The US Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID) and the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center are the main recipients of the research outcomes, he emphasized.
"At the same time, the United States does not disclose the ultimate goals of the experiments to partners, who are often unaware of the risks associated with the implementation of US programs," Rtishchev pointed out.
In late August, Deputy Secretary of the Russian Security Council, Alexey Shevtsov, stated that the US is developing biological weapons, including some aimed at some ethnic groups.
In an interview for Rossiyskaya Gazeta, Shetsov expressed, "It has been confirmed that the United States is developing biological weapons, including those aimed at certain ethnic groups."
He also detailed how the Pentagon wishes to expand its biological weapons program to other states and establish control over biological research, as well as collect bio-materials and pathogens, particularly dangerous ones.
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