MOSCOW, September 19. /TASS/. At a meeting of the signatories to Convention on the Prohibition of Biological and Toxin Weapons (BTWC) in Geneva, Ukraine shrugged off vital questions about the unreasonably large stores of dangerous biological agents and the gross violations unearthed on how they were accumulated and kept, Chemical and Biological Protection Troops Lieutenant-General Igor Kirillov told a briefing on Monday.
"The Ukrainian side fully ignored the questions about unreasonable amounts of dangerous biological agents stored at the institution (Mechnikov Anti-Plague Research Institute - TASS) and revealed gross violations of the conditions of their build-up: the storage of biomaterials in stairwells, and a lack of a functioning system to control access to the pathogenic microorganisms," he said.
According to Kirillov, no explanations were given regarding the nomenclature of the accumulated strains of dangerous pathogens, although 19 works had been carried out in Ukraine since 2008 (under various projects) to study potential biological weapons agents (Congo-Crimean fever, hantaviruses, anthrax and tularemia) and economically significant infections (African and classical swine fever, Newcastle disease).
From September 5 to 9, a Russia-initiated meeting of the signatories to the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention was held in Geneva in connection with violation of Articles I and IV of the Convention by the United States and Ukraine. According to Kirillov, none of the delegations raised doubts about the authenticity of the documents presented by Russia, including concerns around the accumulation of pathogenic materials in Ukrainian laboratories.