MOSCOW, March 17. /TASS/. Ukrainian Defense Ministry laboratories in Kiev, Odessa, Lvov and Kharkov received $32 million funding from the US, says Russian Nuclear, Chemical and Biological Protection Troops commander Igor Kirillov.

"I draw your attention to the fact that the agreement on joint biological activity was signed between the US military ministry and the Health Ministry of Ukraine. However, the true recipients of the funds were laboratories of Ukrainian Ministry of Defense located in Kiev, Odessa, Lvov and Kharkov. The total funding amount was $32 million," he said.

According to Kirillov, these laboratories were selected by US Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) and its contractor Black & Veatch for implementation of Project UP-8, aimed aimed at studying the Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever (CCHF), leptospirosis and hantaviruses.

"Examination of documents on Project P-781 on transmission of diseases to humans via bats revealed that this research was carried out in the Kharkov laboratory, in cooperation with the notorious Lugar Research Center in Tbilisi. The total Pentagon’s spending for its implementation in Ukraine and Georgia amounted to $1.6 million, with Ukraine receiving most of it as main contractor," Kirillov underscored.

"In our opinion, the interest of US military biologists is connected to the fact that these pathogens have natural hotbeds both in Ukraine and Russia, and their use could be disguised as natural disease outbreaks," he added.