Russia asks US to clarify its military biological operations in erstwhile USSR countries

Russia on Monday demanded an explanation from the United States regarding its military biological activities in post-Soviet countries. While addressing a press conference, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova stated that the US must fulfil its responsibilities under the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BTWC), which is crucial for international security.

"We expect (US) to provide not general information, but substantive explanations regarding specific issues raised by the Russian side in connection with US military biological activities in the post-Soviet space," Zakharova was quoted as saying by TASS.

Furthermore, according to the Xinhua news agency, Zakharova went on and noted that Russia aims to undertake meetings with other BTWC members on measures to increase supervision over US bio-lab activities in the post-Soviet space. According to the Russian Defense Ministry, Kremlin's military discovered US-funded biological laboratories doing research on hazardous viruses during the "special military operation" in Ukraine.

Russia accuses US of breaching intl laws by researching biological weapons in Ukraine

The Russian side has frequently pressed America to explain to the world community the purpose behind the biological labs. Russia accused the US of violating international law and carrying out illicit biological weapons research on April 28. The Russian Embassy in Washington stated on Telegram that US citizens must examine the recent data about US-funded bio-labs discovered by the Russian Armed Forces "more scrupulously."

The Russian Embassy condemned the Pentagon's "illegal military-biological activity in Ukraine." Moscow said that bioweaponry research was permitted in conformity with the statute on America's unification in the battle against terrorism. Furthermore, Kremlin claimed that Washington was doing research on the coronavirus, among other things, in a bid to target ethnic groupings. According to Russia's Ministry of Defense, the US launched an R-781 project that used bats as potential biological weapons carriers.

Other reports covered bacterial and viral infections that can be transmitted from bats to humans, like as plague, leptospirosis, brucellosis, coronaviruses, and filoviruses, according to the Kremlin. The released records, according to Russia, disclose another project code-named 'UP-8,' which was tasked with researching the Congo-Crimean hemorrhagic fever virus and hantaviruses in Ukraine. According to Russia, the 'UP-4 project' was undertaken with the help of laboratories in Kyiv, Kharkiv, and Odessa, and was planned to last until 2020.

Image: AP