MOSCOW, September 19. /TASS/. Ukraine’s response to Russia-provided documents proving its interest in obtaining drones that can deliver bioweapons was contrived, Head of the Russian Radiation, Chemical and Biological Protection Forces Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov said on Monday.
He made the statement at a news conference that followed the recent meeting held by states-parties of the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention in Geneva, which had been called at Russia’s request.
Kirillov said that during the meeting, Russia submitted documents confirming Ukraine's interest in obtaining delivery vehicles for biological weapons. The documents included a request from the Ukrainian enterprise Motor Sich to the Turkish drone manufacturer Bayraktar Akinci dated December 15, 2021 to inform about the feasibility of equipping the drones with systems and mechanisms for spraying aerosols with a capacity of more than 20 liters.
"Having no other arguments, Ukraine expressed doubts about the authenticity of this document, making a contrived argument that Ukrainian government institutions don’t use the Russian language in correspondence. As a reminder, Motor Sich isn’t a Ukrainian government institution and to engage with the Turkish side it uses the Russian and English languages, which were used to put together the document we provided. The Motor Sich company declined to comment," he said.
Kirillov said in April that the Kiev regime was developing delivery and release vehicles for biological weapons, citing the abovementioned request from Motor Sich. He said that the flight range of that type of a UAV that’s to 300 km and the drone’s potential to carry containers filled with biological compounds, posed a real threat biological weapons could be used on Russian territory. "In this regard, the question arises: For what purpose did the US develop and patent delivery vehicles for biological weapons and what is the reason for Ukraine's interest in acquiring these vehicles?" the military official said then.
Delegations of the BTWC states-parties concluded their meeting in Geneva on September 9. The event was dedicated to cooperation between the US and Ukraine on military-biological projects and was convened at the request of Russia.