Russia claims access to over 20,000 docs regarding US bio-military programme in Ukraine

In what may appear to be a major accusation against the United States, Russia's Radiological, Chemical, and Biological Defense (RCB) troops have claimed that they found paper related to Washington's secretly run bioweapons programme in Ukraine. A claim that has already been rejected by the US, but undersecretary of state Victoria Nuland has confirmed that the US does indeed have Biolabs in Ukraine, reported Sputnik.

Notably, Russian troops found more than 20,000 documents related to the US military-biological programme in Ukraine, RCB Troops Chief Igor Kirillov claimed. "Over the period of the special military operation, Russian troops have secured over 20,000 documents, references, and analytical materials and interviewed eyewitnesses and participants in American military-biological programs," the officer said in a briefing in Moscow on Monday.

Russia accuses US of secretly running biowarfare program

According to Kirillov, these documents have confirmed that Pentagon was closely working with Ukraine to create biological weapons, and to test them out on the populations of the eastern European country and its neighbors. The RCB troops chief further went on to claim that Washington's activities, including a large-scale effort, were undertaken last year to evacuate Ukrainian specialists working on bioweapons to western countries, including the US, Canada, and the European Union.

Kirillov further said, "Relocation was undertaken in part to prevent Russia from interviewing these personnel to obtain more information about activities that may be in contravention of international obligations and treaty norms." He outlined that the US wanted to shift biological materials out of Ukraine into Poland, the Baltic states and Central Asia.

"The Pentagon is actively transferring unfinished research in the framework of Ukrainian projects to the states of Central Asia and Europe," the officer noted.

He further claimed that Russia has information on US efforts to ramp up biodefense cooperation with countries in Africa and the Asia-Pacific region, including Kenya, Singapore and Thailand. He said Washington is changing its approaches to organising military-biological activities due to pressure from the international community and transferring the functions of customers to civilian departments: the Department of Health, the Energy Department, and the United States Agency for International Development [USAID, ed].

RCB chief questions connection between US and COVID outbreak

Speaking about the collected documents, Kirillov stressed that since 2015, specialists from the EcoHealth Alliance have been engaged in research on coronavirus strain transmission mechanisms. He also claimed that EcoHealth Alliance is the US government-funded non-governmental organization that funded controversial gain of function coronavirus research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology which is to date accused of helping to spark the global COVID pandemic in the year 2019.

"Earlier, we informed you about the work being carried out at Boston University to enhance the pathogenic properties of COVID-19, funded by US government money, and about the possible involvement of USAID in the emergence of a new coronavirus," Kirillov said.

"The key role in the implementation of these projects belongs to the EcoHealth Alliance intermediary." He further said, "documents received from DTRA confirm that since 2015, specialists from this entity have been studying the diversity of the bat population, searching for new strains of the coronavirus, and the mechanisms of their transmission from animals to humans. "In total, more than 2,500 specimens were studied," he added.

Image: AP