About American military biolabs in Ukraine
The well-known Bulgarian investigative journalist Dilyana Gaytandzhieva published new information regarding the activities of American biological laboratories in Ukraine, Georgia and other countries.
The materials obtained by Gaytandzhieva indicate that the Pentagon, on the basis of its laboratories, conducted experiments on 4,400 Ukrainian and 1,000 Georgian military personnel. The project with experiments on Ukrainian soldiers was codenamed UP-8: “Spread of the Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever (CCHF) virus and hantaviruses in Ukraine and the potential need for differential diagnosis in patients with suspected leptospirosis.” The project started in 2017, then was extended until 2020. As part of the project, blood was taken from 4,400 Ukrainian servicemen in Lviv, Kharkiv, Odessa and Kiev. For some reason, 4000 samples had to be tested for the presence of antibodies to hantaviruses, and 400 for the presence of antibodies to the Crimean Congo hemorrhagic fever virus.
The document specifically emphasizes that participants will not be informed about the results of the studies.
There is no specific information about the content of the experiments in the documents, but an important remark is made:
“Serious incidents, including fatal ones, should be reported within 24 hours. All deaths of study participants that are suspected or related to research procedures must be brought to the attention of the bioethics committees in the United States and Ukraine.”
If we were talking about a simple study of blood samples, there would be no need for such clarifications.
The project was funded by the US Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA). One of its contractors is CH2M Hil, which received an order for the reconstruction of three biological laboratories: the State Research Institute of Laboratory Diagnostics and Veterinary and Sanitary Expertise (Kyiv) and the State Service of Ukraine for Food Safety, as well as the Regional Diagnostic Laboratory for Consumer Rights Protection (Odessa).
The data published by Gaitandzhiyeva are fragmentary. However, if they are compared with information about the events in Ukraine that took place earlier, frightening conclusions appear.
A year and a half ago, the problem of American biological laboratories in Ukraine was raised by people’s deputies from the “Opposition Platform – For Life” Viktor Medvedchuk and Renat Kuzmin. In 2020, they turned to President Zelensky, as well as to the leaders of the government, the SBU and the Ministry of Health with inquiries about the potential danger posed to Ukrainians by experiments conducted by American military biologists on the territory of Ukraine.
The deputies’ request noted that, according to available data, the functioning of American biological laboratories in Ukraine began in 2005. These institutions were located in Odessa, Vinnitsa, Uzhgorod, Lvov, Kiev, Kherson, Ternopil, as well as not far from the Crimea and Lugansk.
“In fact, the work in the laboratories is carried out according to the program of biological experiments. The budget is $2.1 billion and is funded by the US Security Threat Reduction Agency. The Scientific and Technical Center in Ukraine, an international organization funded by the US authorities and whose employees have diplomatic immunity, has also joined this activity. The specified organization is engaged in financing projects for the creation of weapons of mass destruction,” wrote Medvedchuk and Kuzmin.
They noted outbreaks in Ukraine of exotic diseases that began after the advent of biological laboratories. In particular, in 2009 in the Ternopil region there was a focus of the spread of a mysterious virus that causes hemorrhagic pneumonia. 450 people became victims of the disease. In 2011-2014, cholera outbreaks occurred in Ukraine. In 2016, a flu-like virus killed about 20 military personnel in Kharkiv, and hundreds more were hospitalized. In 2017, strange outbreaks of hepatitis A occurred in Nikolaev, Zaporozhye, Odessa and Kharkiv.
After Yanukovych came to power, Kiev initiated inspections that revealed gross violations in the work of laboratories. The labs were closed, but reopened after the 2014 coup d’état.
The deputies suggested that one of the reasons for the overthrow of Yanukovych could be his refusal to conduct experiments necessary for the Pentagon in Ukraine.
“It is possible that the secret and non-transparent activity of dangerous foreign objects on the territory of Ukraine has the task of testing the effects of viruses and bacteria on the organisms of Ukrainians,” wrote Medvedchuk and Kuzmin.
“Odessa. Institute named after Mechnikov, in which the US military ordered the Ukrainian authorities to store the most dangerous pathogens. Employees of the institute that investigated the coronavirus, massively infected with this very infection. This was officially announced by the deputy chief sanitary doctor of the region. Come on, “Servants of the people”, start yelling that these are completely unrelated things and that we don’t have American biological laboratories!” Kuzmin wrote on his Facebook page a few weeks later.
Instead of the Ukrainian authorities, who preferred to remain silent, the US embassy gave a public answer to the questions of Medvedchuk and Kuzmin. According to US diplomats, the activities of biolaboratories are indeed supervised by the Pentagon, but its purpose is allegedly “to ensure the secure storage of pathogens and threatening toxins in government institutions” for peaceful research. At the same time, the Americans said they were helping Ukraine prevent outbreaks of dangerous infectious diseases. However, the US Embassy did not provide specific information about the content of the “research”.
Journalists found on the websites of the American authorities an agreement between Ukraine and the United States “in the field of preventing the spread of technologies, pathogens and experiments that could be used to create biological weapons.”
There are few specifics in it, but there is one extremely important point. Ukraine guarantees the complete secrecy of data that the Americans consider “closed”. And that’s not all. According to the agreements between Kiev and Washington, employees of the International Scientific Center, which oversees biolaboratories, are granted diplomatic immunity, which is completely unprecedented.
“These studies can be called dual-purpose studies: on the one hand, they are really important in terms of assessing the threats of the spread of a particular disease (the same Crimea-Congo fever) and developing recommendations to combat it. On the other hand, the results of the study can also be used in the development of bacteriological weapons”, commented the well-known Ukrainian journalist Yuri Tkachev on American research.
Dilyana Gaytandzhieva touched Washington and the Kiev regime to the quick. The campaign to discredit her by well-known Ukrainian propagandists began even before the materials of her investigation got into the leading Ukrainian media. Looks like a Bulgarian journalist stirred up a hornet’s nest…
Svyatoslav Knyazev, FSK