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Russia to oppose US attempts to conceal Pentagon activities in Ukraine — senior diplomat

Sergey Ryabkov recalled that since March, Moscow started presenting documents and evidence that shed light on the true nature of interaction of the Pentagon and its contractors with Ukraine in the military biological sphere

MOSCOW, November 24. /TASS/. Moscow intends to continue fighting Washington's attempts to conceal the true goals of the Pentagon's military biological activities in Ukraine, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said on Thursday.

"The Americans have something to hide in their military biological activities in Ukraine," the senior diplomat said at a press conference ahead of the Ninth Review Conference of the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC), answering a question from TASS, "Our goal is clear: to prevent any possibility of revealing the true nature and objectives of US military biological programs, to ensure their continued unhindered implementation without any international control."

"We will continue to fight this, and we are determined to do so," Ryabkov stressed.

The diplomat recalled that since March, Moscow started presenting documents and evidence that shed light on the true nature of interaction of the Pentagon and its contractors with Ukraine in the military biological sphere. However, according to Ryabkov, the vast majority of Russia's claims made on international platforms remain without a proper response from the US and Ukraine. "They simply ignore our signals, claims and do not want to discuss facts that are presented to them," he pointed out.

"Our questions remain open and require answers," the Russian senior diplomat concluded.

On US military biological activities in Ukraine

Earlier, Russian Defense Ministry Spokesman Igor Konashenkov said signs of Kiev’s cleanup of a military biological program, funded by the US Department of Defense, were discovered during the special military operation. According to the spokesman, employees of the laboratories told about emergency disposal of particularly dangerous pathogens — plague, anthrax, tularemia, cholera and other deadly diseases — on February 24.

On June 9, the Pentagon acknowledged that, in the past 20 years, the US provided support to 46 different civilian laboratories, healthcare institutions and disease diagnostics centers in Ukraine. According to the Pentagon, there are no nuclear, biological or chemical weapons programs in Ukraine, and all cooperation with Ukraine is "peaceful efforts on improvement of nuclear and radiation security, epidemic monitoring, chemical security and readiness to react to epidemics and pandemics.