MOSCOW, January 15. /TASS/. Ukraine has become a striking example of how the US is building up its military-biological capabilities, while its officially stated goals are monitoring infectious diseases and providing assistance to developing countries, Chief of Nuclear, Chemical, and Biological Protection Troops of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov said.

"Over the past year, the Pentagon has developed and adopted a number of conceptual documents that involve expanding the foreign network of US-controlled biological laboratories and continuing military biological research beyond national jurisdiction. <…> While the stated goals are monitoring infectious diseases and providing assistance to developing countries, using the example of Ukraine, it became clear how the military-biological potential of the United States is being built up," he said at a briefing going over documents relating to Washington’s military-biological activities.

Kirillov also recalled that in 2023 administrative and technical agencies were created - the Office of Pandemic Preparedness and Response Policy and the Bureau of Global Health Security and Diplomacy. Their main task is to implement policies for further military-biological expansion, he said.

According to Kirillov, at the start of the special military operation, the Pentagon was implementing two projects in Ukraine, that were aimed at studying the causative agents of particularly dangerous and economically significant diseases - tularemia, anthrax, hantavirus infections. "The research was carried out in three main areas. These are monitoring the biological situation, collecting endemic strains, and studying the susceptibility of the local population," Kirillov said.