MOSCOW, June 16./TASS/. The Russian Defense Ministry has found insufficient the explanations provided by the United States on biological activities in Ukraine, since they do not give answers to a number of important questions, Chief of Russia’s Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Protection Troops Igor Kirillov told a briefing on Thursday.

"The ‘explanations’ provided by the US don’t have answers to the questions we posed - why was the work carried out by order of the Pentagon, and its subject matter was not consistent with actual problems of Ukrainian health care? What for did officers from the US military agency participate in biological research in Ukraine, while the work was carried out in secrecy with restricted access of Ukrainian specialists to information and premises?" Kirillov asked.

There are no answers either to the questions why strains of pathogenic microorganisms - potential biological weapons agents, and biomaterials of Ukrainian citizens were exported from Ukraine without clearly declared purposes. Why are the US officials, including Under Secretary of State Victoria Nuland, so worried that that the results of the US Department of Defense activities in Ukraine and materials in the bio laboratories may get into the hands of Russian specialists?

In addition, the question remained unanswered as to why the US and Ukraine keep quiet about cooperation in the military-biological sphere in international reporting under the Biological Weapons Convention, and why the US has been blocking the development of its verification mechanism since 2001, Kirillov said. The briefing focused on the results of analysis of the documents regarding Washington’s military-biological activity in Ukraine.