Russia says Ukraine, US ignore its questions about military biological program

By Elena Teslova

MOSCOW (AA) – Russia said on Tuesday that the US and Ukraine ignored Moscow’s questions about their joint military biological programs on Ukraine’s territory.

Speaking at a news conference in Moscow, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said both countries demonstrated "a destructive approach" at a meeting of the signatory states of the Convention on the Prohibition of Biological and Toxin Weapons (BTWC) in Geneva last week.

Ryabkov said that such a behavior showed the US and Ukraine’s determination to continue Pentagon’s military biological activities on the Russian borders.

Meanwhile, a number of countries that on other issues take "an aggressive anti-Russian line" were "attentively and carefully" processed the information prepared by Russia based on evidence found in Ukraine, the Russian diplomat said.

"A wide group of countries took part in the event, and it was noticeable that many states and their representatives take our materials, concerns and claims seriously, and they are perceptive about non-transparent US actions abroad, which they think violate the convention and may concern their own security," he said.

Russia, for its part, is working out on bilateral agreements with a number of countries that will make possible the exchange of information about biological security, the diplomat said.

On March 10, the Russian Defense Ministry claimed it obtained documents indicating that US-sponsored biological laboratories in Ukraine conducted experiments with bat coronavirus samples.

The records recovered by Russia confirmed that the biolabs investigated pathogen transmission by wild birds traveling between Ukraine and Russia, as well as other bordering nations.

Victoria Nuland, US undersecretary of state for political affairs, confirmed that there are US-led biological research facilities in Ukraine during a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on March 8 regarding Russia’s war on Ukraine.