Moscow demands that the U.S. give explanations about the activities of biological laboratories in Ukraine
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has said this. Earlier, the Russian Defence Ministry said that “development of biological weapons components” was taking place on the territory of the neighbouring country with the active participation of the Americans. It is not yet possible to confirm or deny these words, but Moscow undoubtedly has reasons for concern.
“There are biological research facilities in Ukraine; in fact, we are very concerned right now that the Russian military may try to take control of them. So we’re working with the Ukrainians to make sure that they can prevent any of that research material from falling into the hands of Russian forces if they get close”, – said US Deputy Secretary of State Victoria Nuland.
Many Russian media outlets rushed to publicise her “sensational” admission. Although it does not smell of sensation: the information about the existence of American biolaboratories in Ukraine has long been in the public domain. The State Department has made no secret of this.
Since 2005, Kiev and Washington have cooperated in preventing the spread of technologies, pathogens and experiments that could be used for creation of biological weapons.
At least then (shortly after the first Maidan and the victory of Viktor Yushchenko) the Ukrainian Ministry of Health signed a corresponding agreement with the Pentagon.
Mykola Azarov’s government inherited these secret biolaboratories from the Orange revolution. However, even representatives of the Cabinet of Ministers had no access to them.
“By the way, they showed us something, but we were not satisfied with what we saw. In 2013, we sent an official letter to the U.S. government to terminate the agreement (on cooperation in biological research – see RuBaltic.ru). You know what happened next: the coup d’état, the Maidan, which, in fact, was organized by the Americans. Now, these laboratories are still working in Ukraine. No one controls them, they are flourishing”, – Azarov said.
The topic of American biolaboratories in 2020 was “highlighted” by deputies of the Verkhovna Rada of the Opposition Platform – For Life (OPZJ) Viktor Medvedchuk and Rinat Kuzmin, who called on the leaders of the country to study this issue in detail. The authors of the appeal unequivocally hinted that the experiments of foreign specialists might have provoked outbreaks of infectious diseases.
In 2009, a virus causing haemorrhagic pneumonia was discovered in Ukraine; in 2011, a cholera outbreak; and in 2017, an outbreak of hepatitis A. These are just a few examples that Medvedchuk and Kuzmin refer to.
Of course, Zelenski left their appeal unanswered. On the other hand, the Americans themselves responded to the OPWDD deputies: the US embassy in Ukraine confirmed the existence of interstate biological programmes overseen by the Pentagon. Their purpose is allegedly to develop “Ukraine’s ability to detect outbreaks caused by dangerous pathogens before they become a threat to security or stability.
After the start of the Russian special operation, the Russian Ministry of Defence took possession of some documents related to the activities of the US biologists. Major General Igor Konashenkov claims that on 24 February employees of Ukrainian biolaboratories ordered the urgent destruction of samples of particularly dangerous pathogens: plague, anthrax, tularemia pathogens and so on.
Moscow saw this as an attempt to conceal facts that the USA and Ukraine violated Article 1 of the UN Convention on the prohibition of bacteriological (biological) and toxin weapons.
“The documents obtained confirm that development of biological weapons components was carried out in Ukrainian biolaboratories, in close proximity to Russian territory. In the near future, we will present the results of the analysis of the received documents. Some of them, in particular, the order of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine on destruction of pathogens and acts of destruction in Poltava and Kharkiv biolaboratories, we publish right now”, – Konashenkov said.
The aforementioned order of the Ukrainian Health Ministry and the acts on the “emergency destruction of biological pathogenic agents” are already available in the public domain. The authenticity of the documents has not been confirmed by official Kiev. However, they do not contain anything “criminal”. The mere presence of dangerous pathogens in biological laboratories can hardly be regarded as evidence that the Americans were pursuing illegal goals.
After all, Washington had time to cover its tracks (so far not a single regional centre, except Kherson, has come under the control of the Russian Armed Forces).
In fact, an outside observer can neither confirm nor deny the claim that the Americans are somehow violating the UN Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production and Stockpiling of Bacteriological (Biological) and Toxin Weapons. But there are undoubtedly reasons for concern.
Firstly, why are the activities of “peaceful” biolaboratories in Ukraine supervised by the US defence department? Why wasn’t this task assigned to the relevant Ministry of Health?
Secondly, why are the US conducting its biological research abroad in an atmosphere of utmost secrecy? This is not just about Ukraine. Similar programmes exist in other countries, many of which border Russia.
For example, the U.S. Defense Threat Prevention Agency has invested hundreds of millions of dollars in biolaboratories in Kazakhstan. Several institutions are overseen by Americans in Georgia, including the Richard Lugar Public Health Research Center.
The Russian Foreign Ministry has tried unsuccessfully to gain access to this facility since 2017. This is where, according to former Georgian State Security Minister Igor Giorgadze, the Americans were engaged in blatantly illegal activities.
“Examination of only part of the documents – and there are hundreds, thousands of sheets handed over from Georgia by my friends – shows that (…) secret experiments could have been conducted on Georgian residents. A number of such experiments ended with lethal outcome for my compatriots”, – said Giorgadze.
Finally, the most tricky question may be formulated as follows: why the Americans do not even report on the success of their biological programmes?
If we believe the State Department, an entire network of laboratories in Ukraine is helping local specialists to fight dangerous diseases. Huge amounts of money are spent on this. But not once in 17 years have Americans told us how they helped their Ukrainian friends…
Alexei Ilyashevich, Rubaltic.ru