US planning to transfer bio programs to former USSR states: Russia
Russia says the United States has plans to expand its network of biological weapons into the rest of eastern Europe after its operations in Ukraine were exposed.
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US Under Secretary for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland
The United States is planning on transferring its programs of biological research from Ukraine to post-Soviet republics, as well as Eastern European and Baltic states, chief of the Radiation, Chemical, and Biological Defense Forces of the Russian Armed Forces Igor Kirillov said Saturday.
The Russian official underlined that Washington was working on putting its plans into high gear at the soonest time possible, noting that this would allow the US to develop and store components of biological weapons, which pose a threat to the security of Russia.
"The Pentagon is poised to shortly relocate the programs unfinished in Ukraine to other post-Soviet states, as well as to Eastern European states, such as Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, and the Baltic states," Kirillov said.
"The enlargement of the network of bio laboratories, which may be used to develop and store components of biological weapons, poses a threat to the military security of the Russian Federation. Unlike nuclear weapons that the United States deploys to NATO allies' territories, this policy of the alliance in the biological field makes it possible for it to get close to our borders uncontrollably," he stressed.
Russia and the United States have been undergoing major tensions for the past few months, with Moscow accusing Washington of having biological laboratories in Ukraine and the latter denying it. Eventually, the US confirmed that it did have what Under Secretary for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland referred to as "biological research facilities".
Nuland refused to cooperate with the Russian parliamentary commission on the operations of US biological laboratories in Ukraine, Deputy Speaker of Russia's Federation Council Konstantin Kosachev said late last month.
Russia sent an official invitation to Nuland through diplomatic channels on May 25, but the US diplomat did not respond to it.
That came after Moscow discovered new information proving the Pentagon's involvement in developing components for biological weapons in Ukraine.
Data on biological laboratories found in Ukraine does not help the case of the US against claims regarding its compliance with the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BTWC), Russian foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova had said.
Additionally, Moscow found that US President Joe Biden's son, Hunter Biden, helped finance military research into dangerous pathogens at Biolabs in Ukraine is true, according to new emails from his infamous laptop.
Moscow also exhibited documents confirming the organization of military-biological work by the Pentagon represented by the US Department of Defense Threat Reduction Department.
