MOSCOW, September 22. /TASS/. The Pentagon is working on secret plots of using tactical biological weapons of mass destruction, said Russian State Duma Deputy Speaker Irina Yarovaya, who co-chairs a parliamentary commission investigating the operations of US biological laboratories in Ukraine, at the commission’s meeting on Thursday.

"It became obvious that the Pentagon is working on covert scenarios of using tactical biological weapons of mass destruction. Perhaps, this is that still unperceived reality which not only the commission of our parliamentary investigation is yet to work on but which, without a doubt, should become the subject of an international investigation," the Duma press service quoted her as saying.

According to the lawmaker, the Pentagon’s military biological activity in Ukraine and throughout the world can be viewed as the groundwork for "a new format of an imperceptible military biological invasion." "It is important to realize that the most dangerous weapon of mass destruction is being developed nowadays in US biological laboratories. Undoubtedly, in these US’ plans, Ukraine plays the role of a subject of distraction and manipulation, among other things," she stressed.

"In the sphere of the use of biological weapons of mass destruction, without a doubt, the US is not simply striving for some sort of leadership, it is practically, in circumvention of the Вiological Weapons Convention, secretly from its conscientious participants, committing dangerous acts directed not just at possessing biological weapons but at covertly creating initially a zone of economic tension and then actual use [of the biological weapons] for destruction," the top lawmaker concluded.

About the commission

In March, the State Duma and the Federation Council passed a resolution to conduct a parliamentary probe of these Ukraine-based biolabs as well as to create a joint commission for this investigation. The commission consists of 14 lawmakers and 14 senators and is co-chaired by Yarovaya and Deputy Speaker of the Federation Council Konstantin Kosachev. State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin repeatedly stressed the necessity to conduct an investigation into the operations of these US biological laboratories.

As Yarovaya noted earlier, the result of the commission's work should be a dossier, which will be sent to Russian President Vladimir Putin, the Russian government and international organizations. According to her, the dossier will contain all the necessary evidence, where "all cause-and-effect links will have been established, all threats and challenges will have been identified, and all implicated organizations, international legal entities, and officials will have been revealed."

According to Russian Defense Ministry Spokesman Igor Konashenkov, evidence was unearthed during Russia’s special military operation that the Kiev regime had rushed to clean up traces of a Pentagon-funded military biological program in Ukraine. Personnel from the Ukrainian laboratories in question testified that on February 24, pathogens of the plague, anthrax, tularemia, cholera and other deadly diseases had been urgently eliminated.

US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland, while testifying before the US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations on March 9, acknowledged that there were some facilities in Ukraine conducting clandestine biological research, and Washington was eager to prevent Russian forces from gaining control of these facilities.