MOSCOW, June 19. /TASS/. A vast network of branches of the US Walter Reed Army Institute of Research lets the Department of Defense get access to potential agents of biological weapons, such as the Marburg and Ebola virus infections, the chief of Russia’s radiation, chemical and biological protection force, Lieutenant-General Igor Kirillov, said on Monday.

According to his data, the Walter Reed Institute has four foreign branches with high-level biological isolation laboratories and a network of territorial units for sampling and transporting strains. The scale of work on dangerous pathogens is seen in the size of the branch in Thailand, which has a staff of about 500. It also has branches in Nepal, Cambodia and the Philippines, which in turn, are in contact with 12 other Southeast Asian countries.

"Besides, the US Naval Medical Research Command has a network of overseas branches. Its subordinate laboratories handle pathogens in North Africa, the Middle East and South America. Such a diversified approach, implemented around the world, allows the US Department of Defense to access epidemically significant variants of pathogens that are potential biological weapons agents. These include Marburg and Ebola virus diseases, malaria, and Rift Valley fever," Kirillov noted.