The United States planned to create a biological laboratory, one similar to the Georgian Lugar center, in Simferopol when Crimea was still part of Ukraine, head of Russia’s national health and epidemic watchdog Rospotrebnadzor Anna Popova said Tuesday.
“Today, there are 11 US laboratories in Ukraine, and they have been modernized at the expense of the Pentagon. It was expected to construct such a laboratory in Simferopol as well,” Popova said at a at briefing in Rossiya Segodnya International Information Agency.
Russia has repeatedly expressed concern about the activities of the Pentagon involving placement of its biomedical labs in close proximity to Russian borders. In 2015, the Russian Foreign Ministry mentioned in this regard the Lugar lab hosting the US Army Medical Department’s research unit. Moscow believes that the US and Georgian authorities were trying to hide the true nature of the work of the facility.