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Russia tightens protection from foreign labs studying pathogens, says watchdog chief

Anna Popova recalled that most of the biolaboratories around the world were financed by the US Department of Defense

© AP Photo/Ben Margot

MOSCOW, June 21. /TASS/. Russia is forced to take extra protection measures against the emergence of likely threats from foreign laboratories that study the existing pathogens and may produce new ones, the chief of the consumer rights watchdog Anna Popova told the second international conference on biosecurity in Sochi.

"Russia and other CIS member-states have to take extra measures to protect themselves from likely threats that may come from the laboratories conducting research into the existing pathogens and possibly the production of new ones," she said.

Popova recalled that most of the biolaboratories around the world were financed by the US Department of Defense.

"We live in a world where there are more than 200 laboratories that conduct covert research into pathogens and are largely financed by the US Department of Defense. The related risks keep growing and getting more evident and regrettably more real," she added.

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