WASHINGTON, August 17. /TASS/. The US authorities are establishing laboratories across the world in order to be able to manage epidemics in their own interests, the Russian Embassy in Washington said in a statement.
"Uncontrolled dual-use research run by the Pentagon continues to raise questions from the international community. Russia has repeatedly pointed to blatant violations by the US of the Biological Weapons Convention. Washington keeps ignoring grievances, citing a humanitarian aspect of its programs," the statement reads.
"We would like to point out that any good purposes of projects carried out by the US Department of Defense are out of the question. There is evidence proving that the US conducted research involving potential biological warfare agents, and the evidence is significant. There is also proof of attempts to deliberately enhance pathogenic properties of agents causing socially significant infections," the embassy noted.
"Under the guise of monitoring diseases, Washington is scattering its illegal laboratories across the world, brazenly and with impunity; establishing numerous facilities of this kind along Russia’s borders. The goal clearly is to be able to generate biological crises at a chosen time and create artificial sites of infection, that is, to manage epidemics," the statement added.
"The Pentagon’s activities in Ukraine cause particular concern. The US has dragged dozens of the country’s state institutes and private companies into its projects. Civilians and military servicemen in the country have become donors of biomaterials and mere test subjects," the embassy noted, adding: "There is no doubt that such actions require an appropriate legal assessment, particularly by the relevant international institutions."
"The facts about the United States’ illegal military and biological activities that were made public by the Russian Defense Ministry make one wonder once again as to what their real goals and objectives are. Common Americans also have mounting questions that require clarifications from the government about the programs that have been sponsored," the statement said. "It’s high time Washington admitted that while it is still able to ensure the support of its like-minded nations at multilateral platforms and silence those who have doubts, it won’t be able to get away from the claims of its own people," the Russian embassy noted.