MOSCOW, March 7 - RIA Novosti. (Translation)
Ministry of Defense: Ukraine is trying to hide traces of work with plague pathogens
In violation of international law, Ukraine worked to strengthen the pathogenic properties of microbes, said Igor Kirillov, Head of Radiation, Chemical and Biological Protection Troops of the Russian Armed Forces.
"Curators from the Pentagon understand that if these collections (pathogenic microbes - Editor's note) get to Russian experts, Ukraine and the United States's violation of the Convention on the Prohibition of Biological and Toxin Weapons is likely to be confirmed. Namely: work to strengthen the pathogenic properties of microorganisms using synthetic biology methods," he said.
In total, the Russian military found 30 biolaboratories in Ukraine that worked within the framework of Pentagon programs and possibly produced biological weapons.
According to Kirillov, the customer was the Office of the U.S. Department of Defense to reduce the military threat. The work was carried out in three main areas. First of all, it is the monitoring of the biological situation in the alleged areas where military contingents of the NATO bloc states are located. The second is the collection and export of strains of dangerous microorganisms to the United States. The third direction is research work on the study of potential agents of biological weapons specific to the region, which have natural foci and are able to be transmitted to humans.
According to the Russian military, who analyzed the documents received, the Ministry of Health of Ukraine set a task from February 24 to completely destroy bioagents in laboratories and urgently curtail biological programs.
According to him, 232 tanks with leptospirosis causative agent were destroyed in Lviv, 30 with tularemia, ten with brucellosis, five with plague.
There are more than 320 containers in total. The nomenclature and excessive number of biopathogens indicate the work carried out within the framework of military biological programs," said the commander of the RHBZ troops.
The work of biolaboratories has led to an increase in the incidence of measles by 100 times, in addition, the World Health Organization has declared Ukraine a country with a high risk of polio outbreak.
As Kirillov stressed, everything has already been taken out of the country to continue the U.S. military and biological program. Analysis of the instructions indicates that the procedure for liquidation of collections is aimed at their irrevocable destruction.
In total, the United States has spent more than $200 million on the work of biological laboratories in Ukraine, according to the presentation of the Ministry of Defense. |
