Washington failed to disable biological laboratories in Ukraine prior to Russia’s launch of its special war operation, according to Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov, the chief of Russia’s military’s Radiation, Chemical, and Biological Defense Forces, on Friday.
“The US authorities contradict themselves in their statements regarding the work of US biological laboratories in Ukraine. Thus, in his statement dated January 31, 2023, the representative of the US National Security Council, John Kirby, confirmed the presence of US biological laboratories in Ukraine, while indicating that they were abandoned by personnel and … ‘deactivated’ before the start of the special military operation. However, the documents we received deny Kirby’s statement,” Kirillov told reporters.
Kirillov revealed the new names of participants of US military biological programs, including representatives from government agencies and private companies in Ukraine.
The list, among others, includes Serhiy Mohun, the chief of Ukraine’s military health and epidemiology departments, and an organizer of interactions between Ukraine’s defense ministry, as well as the U.S. Defense Threat Reduction Agency’s Department of International Affairs (DITRA).
He added that the participants who were named earlier included officials of the US DoD, American biotech companies, and Pentagon contractors.
Moscow has intelligence that the United States has been developing vaccines with an mRNA engine, which causes recurrence and severe complications with funding from the US Department of the Treasury since 2017, Kirillov said.
“According to available information, the development of vaccines of this type [mRNA vaccines] has been funded by the US state budget since 2017, and by the time commercially available drugs appeared, it was clear that they could cause the development of concomitant diseases and serious complications,” Kirillov told reporters.
The official quoted an ex-employee at the US drug firm Pfizer who said his products were “by definition bioweapons,” because U.S. law defines bioweapons as any biological agent, toxins, or delivery devices, and mRNA-technology vaccines meet the definition.
“It was also proposed to treat the side effects of vaccination with drugs from Pfizer and Moderna companies, which have already received multibillion-dollar government contracts. This approach allows US pharmaceutical manufacturers to fully use the emergence of new pathogens to their advantage and receive unlimited profits,” Kirillov added.
Kirillov added that no facts of US biological dual-use research announced by Russia’s defense ministry were denied in Washington. The Ministry has noted on several occasions the potential risks of US-implemented “dual-use programs” on both its own territory and overseas. Kirillov said that one Central African country’s Ministry of Health is studying a possible case in which U.S. military biologists will spread the Ebola virus in September 2022.
“It should be noted that none of the facts voiced by the Russian Ministry of Defense regarding the conduct of dual-purpose research by the United States has been questioned or denied. In an attempt to justify Washington, there are statements that all work is carried out in the national interests of the United States and is aimed at ensuring global biosecurity,” Kirillov told reporters.
One of the versions suggests “careless handling of pathogens by US military biologists who carried out work in this region,” the official added.
Russia submitted a draft resolution of the UN Security Council for consideration. According to the document, the Security Council would decide “to form a commission consisting of all members of the Security Council to investigate the claims presented in the complaint of the Russian Federation against the United States and Ukraine regarding their compliance with obligations under the Convention in the context of the activities of biological laboratories in Ukraine.” The resolution received too few votes to be adopted.
According to Kirillov, the Pentagon has operated clandestine biological laboratories in Ukraine for years, researching extremely dangerous pathogens and exporting biological samples, all in violation of the BWC.
