MOSCOW, June 19. /TASS/. The US, with the support of its allies, is researching methods for using infectious pathogens that will enable creating artificial hotbeds of particularly dangerous diseases, Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov, head of the Russian military’s Radiation, Chemical and Biological Defense Forces, said.

"The US, supported by its allies, is conducting large-scale military-use biological research aimed at finding effective methods of using infectious agents. The implementation of such plans will make it possible to create artificial foci of particularly dangerous infectious diseases. We see this as another argument for an international investigation into US biological research activities with military applications," he said at a briefing on Monday.

Kirillov also recalled that, according to approved strategic documents in the field of biological production and countering biological threats, the US has reserved for itself the right to conduct "dual-use" research and manage the biological environment in its own interests.

"In actively supporting such [US] activities, the United Kingdom declared its own interests in the biological field by adopting a national biological security strategy on June 12, 2023. One of the document's stated goals is ‘to reinforce UK leadership in biological security.’ The amount of funding for activities under the strategy will be 1.5 billion pounds sterling per year," he pointed out.