NEW DELHI, March 29. /TASS/. There is strong evidence that the United States is engaged in biological activity in Ukraine, Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolay Patrushev said on Wednesday.
"There is irrefutable evidence that Washington conducts large-scale biological activity on Ukrainian territory and the American elites are involved in these processes," Patrushev said at a meeting of security chiefs from member states of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO).
As the Russian security chief pointed out, "in the areas of Ternopol, Odessa, Kharkov and Nikolayev, infection outbreaks were registered near the institutes where pathogenic agents of such diseases as hemorrhagic fever, cholera, swine flu, hepatitis A and botulism were studied."
"Ukraine is far from being the sole country that has become a proving ground for testing biological weapons," Patrushev stressed.
"Other former Soviet republics, such as Georgia, Moldova and some SCO states are also in the US focus," he said.
Medical and biological security provision on the territory of SCO member states is "a serious challenge," Patrushev stressed.
"We deem it extremely important to discuss the issues of providing biological security within the framework of our organization. We proceed from the need to arrange regular expert consultations on biosecurity within the SCO format, in particular, among foreign ministries," the Russian security chief said.