Russia claims US breached international laws by researching biological weapons in Ukraine

The United States has breached international laws and has been carrying out illegal research in the field of biological weapons, Russia alleged on Thursday, April 28. The Russian Embassy in Washington, in a statement on Telegram, said that American citizens must analyse "more scrupulously" the recent facts about US-funded bio-labs uncovered by the Russian Armed Forces. The Russian Embassy denounced "illegal military-biological activities of the Pentagon in Ukraine."

Moscow alleged that the bioweaponry research activity was allowed "in accordance with the law on uniting America in the fight against terrorism." Under these pretexes, Pentagon carried out the banned research in the field of creating bioweapons "with the approval of the government," said the Russian diplomatic mission. 

"We draw attention to the fact that, contrary to international obligations, the United States has retained in its legislation the norms that allow work in the field of biological weapons," the Russian Embassy said in a Telegram statement. 

(Image: Russian Defence Ministry)

Moscow's embassy noted that the US conducted the "most controversial experiments" from the point of view of ethics outside the national jurisdiction in guise of other projects. While Russia's President Vladimir Putin launched an all-out military operation in Ukraine, the US was potentially testing "dangerous biological drugs" on patients of the regional clinical psychiatric hospital No. 3 of Kharkiv, alleged Russian diplomatic mission. 

"The United States is coordinating the work of bio-laboratories in Ukraine through the Ukrainian Science and Technology Center (UNTC) whose main activity is the distribution of grants for research commissioned by the Pentagon," the Russian Embassy said. "In recent years alone, Washington has allocated more than $350 million for STCU projects," it further informed in the statement published Thursday. 

"Such US activity raises legitimate questions from the international community regarding Washington's commitment to its obligations under the BTWC (Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention)," said Moscow. 

Russia MoD accused US of researching bioweapons in Ukraine 

The Russian Defence Ministry had accused the United States of funding biological research labs in Ukraine, stressing that it had been conducting experiments to create biological weapons. Moscow had claimed that Washington had been conducting bat coronavirus-related research among others in order to target ethnic groups. Russia's MoD said that Washington had conducted an R-781 project that involved bats as carriers of potential biological weapons.

Other research, as per the Kremlin, included bacterial and viral pathogens that can be transmitted from bats to humans: pathogens of plague, leptospirosis, brucellosis, as well as coronaviruses and filoviruses. Russia states that the declassified documents reveal another project code-named ‘UP-8’, which was aimed at studying the Congo-Crimean hemorrhagic fever virus and hantaviruses in Ukraine. ‘UP-4 project’ was implemented with the participation of laboratories in Kyiv, Kharkiv and Odessa and was designed for the period up to the year 2020, Russia said. These documents “clearly refute the US public statement that only Ukrainian scientists work in the Pentagon Biolabs in Ukraine without the intervention of American biologists,” said Russia’s Defence Ministry.