MOSCOW, December 12. /TASS/. The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) may have played a role in testing pharmacological drugs on Ukrainians, Chief of Russia’s Radiation, Chemical and Biological Protection Troops Major General Alexey Rtishchev said at a briefing.

Among other US officials, National Security Council Coordinator John Kirby, Under Secretary of State Victoria Nuland, and incumbent Secretary of Health Robert Kennedy, Jr. have repeatedly confirmed that the US defense agency conducted work in Ukrainian biolabs, Rtishchev added.

"Dave Collum, Professor of Organic Chemistry at Cornell University, confirmed that pharmacological drugs had been tested on Ukrainian people in 38 laboratories in an interview with US reporter Tucker Carlson in August 2025. Civilian rather than defense agencies and NGOs act as customers to ensure the secrecy of such tests. The United States Agency for International Development (USAID), dissolved by US President Donald Trump, was among such agencies," Rtishchev revealed.

According to the senior Russian military official, among other things, USAID sponsored the Event 201 exercise ahead of the COVID-19 pandemic. "I’d like to note that the exercise was held in October 2019, shortly before the COVID-19 outbreak," Rtishchev emphasized.

Also, he said, a remark from US billionaire Elon Musk, who earlier headed the US Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), calling USAID a "criminal organization" confirms the Russian Defense Ministry’s conclusions regarding the agency’s role in illegal activities.