Russia announces to hold meeting on US activities in biological laboratories in Ukraine

A Russian official has said that Russia will be conducting a meeting on USA's biological laboratory activities in Ukraine. The meeting will be conducted under the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BTWC) to discuss America's "activities in military-biological laboratories in Ukraine," as per a report from Sputnik news. The information was disclosed by Konstantin Vorontsov, who is Russian delegation's deputy head for the United Nations First Committee on Disarmament and International Security. 

On Tuesday, Konstantin Vorontsov told members of the UN First Committee that Russia has "not received exhaustive explanations that could completely allay any of the doubts concerning these activities and thus straightened out the situation that had prompted the Russian side to convene a consultative meeting under BTWC Article 5." America's representative for the UN's First Committee said that Moscow's allegations about American activities in Ukraine were "unfounded". The Russian mission to the United Nations believes that America is using biological labs in Ukraine to conduct experiments and has reportedly provided evidence to the United Nations. 

US denies Russian claims

The Sputnik report states that back in September, the Russian Defense Ministry offered evidence about United States' military biological activities in Ukraine. The US Department of State has responded to Russian allegations by stating, "the Kremlin is intentionally spreading outright lies that the United States and Ukraine are conducting chemical and biological weapons activities in Ukraine.  We have also seen PRC officials echo these conspiracy theories. This Russian disinformation is total nonsense and not the first time Russia has invented such false claims against another country.  Also, these claims have been debunked conclusively and repeatedly over many years," as per information available on the State Department's website. 

  After the the Biological Weapons Convention Article V Formal Consultative Meeting, called by Russia, ended in Geneva the US issued a statement saying, "in the presence of delegations from 89 countries, the United States and Ukraine presented a thorough, in-depth series of presentations that strongly refuted Russia’s absurd and false claims of U.S. biological weapons development and bio-labs in Ukraine. Technical experts from the US and Ukrainian delegations unambiguously explained their cooperation and US assistance related to public health facilities, biosafety, biosecurity, and disease surveillance as part of the broader U.S. Cooperative Threat Reduction Program."