MOSCOW, May 5. /TASS/. Shawn Anderson, the energy attache at the US embassy in Kiev, oversees the organization of biological research by the US Department of Energy in Ukraine, Igor Kirillov, the chief of Russia’s radiation, chemical and biological protection force has said.
"The issues of organizing research activities by that ministry (US Department of Energy - TASS) in Ukraine are handled by the director of the office in Kiev - the US embassy's energy attache Shawn Anderson," Kirillov told a news briefing on the analysis of documents concerning US military and biological activities.
Kirillov stressed that more than a dozen dual-use projects, such as P-157, P-316, P-490 and others, had been organized with the Department of Energy’s direct involvement. These projects studied genetic variability in areas of radioactive contamination, the spread of tuberculosis, other mycobacterial infections, as well as economically important livestock diseases - African and classical swine fever, Kirillov added.
He stressed that one of the Department of Energy's seventeen laboratories, the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory located in Richland, Washington, had worked in Ukraine under a project called the Proliferation Security Initiative.
"I would like to note the close cooperation between the US Department of Energy and Department of Defense. The Department of Energy's Pacific Laboratory is headed by Steven Ashby, who also holds the position of vice-president of Battelle, the Pentagon's main contractor," Kirillov added.