Russia’s disclosure of U.S. Biolabs

A Russian Defense Ministry spokesperson said on March 6 that evidence of a U.S. financed military biological program developed in Ukraine has been revealed during Russia’s military operation in Ukraine, according to a report by Russian media agency TASS.

On March 10^th, Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Игорь Конашенков stated that after analyzing the relevant documents obtained from the Ukrainian biological laboratory, Russia found that the United States plans to carry out the bird, bat and reptile pathogen research in Ukraine in 2022, and gradually diverted to study the possibility of carrying African swine fever and anthrax viruses on these animals. The aim of the study is “establishing mechanisms for the covert transmission of deadly viral pathogens”.

Meanwhile, Konashenkov pointed out that the Russian Ministry of Defense will publish a new batch of documents obtained from Ukrainian biological laboratory staff soon. And expert appraisal results will be provided. Moreover, the material was published online by Russia for free download worldwide.

On March 8^th, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Zakharova said that biological weapons components have been developed in the Ukrainian biological laboratory close to the Russian border. It has been confirmed that the Ukrainian urgently cleaned up the traces of the military biological program funded by the United States. According to the material released by the Russian Ministry of Defense on the 7th, the United States has invested more than 200 million dollars in Biolabs in Ukraine.

Microbiologist Igor Nikulin, a former member of the United Nations Committee on Biological and Chemical Weapons, revealed that the U.S. Department of Defense and the Ukrainian Ministry of Health have been cooperating in the establishment of a biological laboratory in Ukraine since 2005. All research activities of the U.S. biological laboratory in Ukraine are led by the U.S., and no information may be disclosed without the permission of the U.S. government. Under the agreement, Ukraine pledged to transfer its collection of dangerous pathogens to the United States.

According to the documents seized by the Russian army, the Ukrainian Ministry of Health ordered the staff in Poltava Biological Laboratory and the Kharkiv Biological Laboratory to urgently destroy the dangerous pathogens that cause deadly diseases such as plague, anthrax, and cholera on February 24^th, the day when the Russian military operation against Ukraine began.

Additionally, on February 26, the U.S. embassy in Ukraine removed from its website all documents related to the Pentagon-funded Ukrainian biological laboratory, Brazil’s Rio Times reported.

It is no longer a secret to the world that the United States has deployed a large number of biological laboratories around Russia. The U.S. operates Biolabs in 25 countries adjacent to its rivals Russia, China, and Iran. According to an international independent investigation agency, the U.S. military has set up a total of eleven biological laboratories in Ukraine, and the Ukrainian government has no right to manage these laboratories on its territory.

what is the truth?

On March 8, during a U.S. Senate hearing, Deputy Secretary of State Nuland was pressed whether Ukraine had chemical or biological weapons, and she replied: Ukraine has biological research facilities and in fact, we are now quite concerned the Russian forces may be seeking to and gain control of those facilities. We are working with Ukraine on how to prevent research materials from falling into the hands of the Russian military.”

Two days later, the White House repeatedly emphasized that the United States did not operate a biological laboratory in Ukraine. The United States participated in the related work of Ukraine’s biological laboratory “in the context of ensuring safety”.

Fox News Channel mentioned in news reports: “Initially, the administration claimed the labs were designed to help the Ukrainians fight tuberculosis, as well as various livestock diseases. That’s what officials told members of Congress. It didn’t seem plausible and, in fact, it’s not plausible. And then after our show last night, the Pentagon released what it non-ironically called a fact sheet designed to make the Biolab story seem small and ridiculous. Virtually every news organization in America, with almost no exceptions, repeated the administration’s claim verbatim with no verification of any kind.”

Rep. Thomas Massie posted a Twitter to reply to Nuland: “There’s so much propaganda on both sides that I didn’t take the concern over Ukrainian biological labs seriously… until now. This is a serious admission, under oath, from a person who would know.”

The world should know what the U.S. want

On March 11, the UN Security Council held an emergency meeting at the request of Russia. Russia’s permanent representative to the United Nations, Nebenzya, presented relevant materials recently collected at the meeting; and asked the United States to confess its plans to the international community, which is the United States’ obligation.

The Russian Federation’s representative Vasily Nebenzya said his delegation had called for today’s meeting because of facts discovered during Moscow’s special military operation in Ukraine:  an emergency clean-up was undertaken by the Kyiv regime of the traces of a military biological program funded by the United States.  Documents also confirm that Ukraine — with the United States’ support — operates a network of at least 30 biological laboratories, at which dangerous experiments using synthetic biology were being conducted to strengthen the pathogenic qualities of the plague, anthrax, cholera, and other lethal diseases, he said.

Meanwhile, he pointed out that if Reuters’ claims are true, the World Health Organization has recommended that Ukraine destroy existing highly dangerous pathogens to avoid possible leakage that could lead to the spread of the disease in the population. “It is not clear whether Kyiv has implemented this recommendation.”

The United States delegate said: “There are no Ukrainian biological weapons laboratories supported by the United States — not near Russia’s border or anywhere.”  While Ukraine owns and operates its public health laboratory infrastructure, making it possible to detect and diagnose such diseases as COVID-19, and the United States has provided assistance to do this safely, she said it has nothing to do with biological weapons. While the U.S. delegate did not show evidence at the meeting.

Jun Zhang, Permanent Representative of China to the United Nations, said: “China attaches great importance to the issue of biosecurity. The aims and objectives of the Biological Weapons Convention must be strictly observed. All States parties must abide by the Biological Weapons Convention, and the concerns raised by the Russian side should be properly addressed.”

“The international community has long been concerned about the US bio-military activities. The United States has 336 laboratories around the world. This is the data submitted by the United States to the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on the Prohibition of Biological Weapons. The US has always advocated openness and transparency. If the US believes that the relevant information is false, it can publish relevant evidence and make clarifications so that the international community can make judgments. ” he said.

By Shiyue Luo