In Ukraine, eight biological laboratories of the United States were declassified, which contain samples of especially dangerous infections for the development of biological weapons. For the first time, a film crew of the 1 + 1 TV channel was admitted to the territory of one of these secret facilities, while journalists from another publication, meanwhile, received comments from the Ministry of Health. Obviously, public and political resonance forced Washington to slightly lift the veil of secrecy. But questions about the US biological program in Ukraine from this does not become smaller.
The topic of American biological laboratories in Ukraine has been “rocked” by deputies from the Opposition Platform – For Life (HLS) Viktor Medvedchuk and Renat Kuzmin since last month. On April 14, they sent inquiries addressed to the President, the Prime Minister, the Minister of Health and the head of the Security Service of Ukraine with an appeal to sort out what was really happening on the territory of these facilities.
“It is possible that the secret and opaque activity of dangerous foreign objects in Ukraine has the task of testing the effects of viruses and bacteria on the organisms of Ukrainians,” MPs write.
In support of their words, they provide information about the numerous outbreaks of infectious diseases that have been recorded in Ternopol, Nikolaev, Kharkov, Odessa and other cities since 2009.
Have the causes of these outbreaks been investigated? With such a question, Medvedchuk and Kuzmin turned to the country’s leadership, but received no answer.
But they received criminal charges. The Pechersky District Court of Kiev ordered the Office of the Prosecutor General to open a case on high treason committed by representatives of the Opposition Platform – For Life party.
Kuzmin associates this precisely with the fact that, without waiting for an answer from the president, parliamentarians turned to the UN with a complaint about the illegal work of American biological laboratories in Ukraine.
There is little information in open sources about these objects. Even representatives of the HRE in their official request were forced to refer to rather dubious sources – the Bulgarian and Serbian media.
According to journalists who studied this issue, there are more than 400 US military bio-laboratories around the world, including at least 15 in Ukraine. They are funded by the US Department of Defense, they work exclusively in Americans, and local authorities are committed to not interfering in their activities to “study and manufacture viruses and bacteria.”
This format was approved in 2005, during the presidency of Viktor Yushchenko and the premiership of Yulia Tymoshenko. The Pentagon and the Ministry of Health of Ukraine signed an agreement on cooperation in the prevention of proliferation technologies, pathogens and examinations that can be used to develop biological weapons.
Medvedchuk and Kuzmin also emphasize that in 2010-2012, the Azarov government initiated two inspections on compliance with safety standards in biological laboratories.
As a result, a number of gross violations were revealed, including the fact of removing exhaust ventilation into the premises of a preschool educational institution.
In 2013, President Viktor Yanukovych decided to abandon such interaction with the Americans. Further events need not be reminded once again. “It is likely that V. Yanukovych lost his power with the active participation of the US government precisely because of the refusal to cooperate with the Pentagon,” the MPs suggest.
It would seem clumsy conspiracy theories. But in response to the appeal of Kuzmin and Medvedchuk, the US Embassy nevertheless recognized that there are American biolaboratory laboratories in Ukraine – they allegedly work in the field of “global peace and prosperity by reducing the risks associated with chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear weapons.” Although there are no less questions after this diplomatic reply.
Firstly, it is not entirely clear why the Pentagon oversees biological programs in Ukraine. Health care seems to be included in the competence of another agency – the US Department of Health.
Secondly, why is the activity of biological laboratories covered in such a dense veil of secrecy?
According to the Americans, the US Department of Defense’s biological threat reduction program helps Ukraine deal with the risks of outbreaks (intentional, accidental, or natural) of the world’s most dangerous infectious diseases. It would be logical to provide information about the high-profile victories in this war with the “biological aggressor” and at least periodically tell how scientific cooperation helped stop the threat of the spread of hemorrhagic fever, hantavirus, African plague virus, and so on.
Why wait until the MPs from the HRE start accusing the Pentagon of experimenting with the Ukrainians?
Ex-Prime Minister of Ukraine Mykola Azarov shared interesting details of this cooperation. According to him, the 2005 agreement was classified, all Ukrainians participating in its conclusion gave a non-disclosure agreement.
“We purely by chance, when we came to power in 2010, learned from an information letter from the Ministry of Health that such laboratories operate in our country,” says Azarov.
At the end of 2012, Ukraine officially notified the US government of its intention to terminate the agreement.
Negotiations continued until the coup d’etat, after which the new government no longer overtook the Americans.
“I cannot 100% say that this issue played a decisive role, but it could be among other reasons for the Maidan,” Azarov suggests.
Apparently, the unquenchable interest in this topic from the public, coupled with the unremitting activity of the HLS, forced the curators of the Pentagon biological program in Ukraine to become a little more open. The other day, they admitted to one of the secret laboratories journalists of the 1 + 1 channel, who shot an emphasis on complementary reporting.
Having looked at it, the Ukrainians should understand that the “Kremlin horror stories” picked up by Medvedchuk are a fake, and in fact the Pentagon has exclusively good intentions. The increased secrecy is justified, since in such institutions the causative agents of terrible diseases are stored. But ordinary citizens have nothing to fear – the most stringent protective measures are observed in the laboratory. Even the air does not leave the premises where they conduct research.
So do not listen to the tales of “pro-Russian revenge-seekers” about gross violations!
The next day, the Ukrainian News publication received a response from the Ministry of Health to its information request about US biological laboratories. Of course, there is nothing sensational here. Several dry facts were recorded, the name of the company that under the contract of 2016 provided technical assistance to laboratories in Ukraine. The basic message is the same: the Pentagon’s secret program works in the name of world peace.
Perhaps the only valuable information in the response of the Ministry of Health is the statement that the biological cooperation between Kiev and Washington was still interrupted in 2014-2016.
Although Azarov claims that Yanukovych did not have time to break the agreement. In this case, what is the reason for this two-year break? Who initiated it? On what legal grounds did the American biological laboratories in Ukraine work (if they worked) in 2014-2016? These and other questions remain unanswered.