MOSCOW, June 2. /TASS/. A multi-country monkeypox outbreak raises a lot of questions following reports on secret US biolabs, Deputy Speaker of the State Duma, Russia’s lower house of parliament, Irina Yarovaya said on Thursday.
The situation needs analysis, unbiased expert assessments, Yarovaya, who is also head of the parliamentary commission investigating into the US’ biological research in Ukraine, said at a commission meeting.
"Outbreaks of monkeypox, which is a relative of smallpox, in many countries simultaneously <…> and outbreaks of hepatitis among children with immediate serious consequences, when some patients require liver transplants," are extremely worrying, the lawmaker said.
"The simultaneous and exotic nature of the diseases and the available data on the US’ large-scale secret activities in various countries supervised by the Defense Ministry do raise concerns," the Duma’s press service quoted Yarovaya as saying.
"Also worrying is the simulation exercise centered on a monkeypox outbreak, which was conducted at the Munich Security Conference last year," added Yarovaya. "The disease was forecast to start this May, which the organizers of the exercise are now calling a mere coincidence. And the main link in this chain of coincidences is the US’ interest in smallpox."
All these data cause serious concern and require an "unbiased expert assessment," she said.