Russia has asked the United States to explain its military biological activities in some post-Soviet countries…reports Asian Lite News
On Sunday, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said the United States must fulfill its obligations under the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BTWC), which is essential for international security.
Zakharova added that Russia plans to hold consultations with other BTWC members on measures to increase control over the activities carried out by the United States in bio-labs in the post-Soviet space, Xinhua news agency reported.
During a special military operation in Ukraine, the Russian military found that US-funded biological laboratories conducted research on dangerous viruses, according to the Russian Defence Ministry.
The Russian side has repeatedly urged Washington to explain the purpose of these facilities to the international community.
IN May, the head of Russia’s Investigative Committee, Alexander Bastrykin said that his team was making progress in a criminal probe into Ukraine’s alleged Pentagon-funded bioweapons programme.
“The analysis of the obtained documents allowed us to clearly identify the people involved in the military biological activities in Ukraine, including representatives of the US Department of Defense and American companies with ties to it,” he said, RT reported.
Bastrykin added that the US had spent more than $224 million on biological programmes in Ukraine since 2005 and the foreign aid was used to equip and upgrade around 30 research centers governed by Ukraine’s Defence, Health and Agriculture ministries.
“The results of said research had been evacuated to Kiev-controlled territory before the start of (Russia’s) special military operation,” he said, adding that his agency would continue to study the documents on the matter.
ALSO READ:Russia’s envoy in Britain says Moscow won’t use ‘tactical nuclear weapons’
In March, Moscow claimed that it had found evidence that the US had been funding biological weapons research in Ukraine. Washington and Kiev denied this claim and accused Russia of waging a disinformation campaign, RT reported.
Senior US diplomat Victoria Nuland said at the time that Washington was working with Ukraine to prevent research materials from falling into the hands of Russian troops.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian also urged the US to “give a full account of its biological military activities at home and abroad and subject itself to multilateral verification”.