MOSCOW, May 3. /TASS/. Russia’s Investigative Committee found that the funding of bioprograms in Ukraine by the United States has exceeded $224 million since 2005, Chairman of the Investigative Committee Alexander Bastrykin said in an interview with Russia Today. Extracts from the interview were published on the channel’s website on Tuesday.

He recalled that the Investigative Committee is investigating a criminal case into the development of biological weapons of mass destruction, which was funded by the US Department of Defense, as well as other organizations related to it.

"It has been established that since 2005 the amount of US funding for biological programs in Ukraine has amounted to more than $224 million," he told RT.

According to him, the analysis of the received documents revealed the circle of persons engaged in military biological activities in Ukraine, including representatives of the US Department of Defense and American contractor companies.

Bastrykin noted that "the United States has consistently carried out work on the upgrade and re-equipment of about three dozen research institutions of the ministries of health and agriculture of Ukraine, as well as a number of sanitary and epidemiological facilities of the medical forces of Ukraine’s Defense Ministry." The results of the research were taken to the territories controlled by Kiev before the start of a special military operation.