MOSCOW, December 11. /TASS/. The Russian Defense Ministry has obtained documents that indicate the US carried out coronavirus research between 2016 and 2020, Chief of Russia’s Nuclear, Chemical and Biological Protection Troops Lieutenant-General Igor Kirillov said on Monday.

"I would like to remind you that it was four years ago, in December 2019, that the first patients infected with the COVID-19 virus were identified," Kirillov stated. "By a 'curious coincidence', the pandemic was preceded by a series of research projects on the systematic study of coronaviruses funded by the US Government."

"Thus, since 2009, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has implemented the Predict Program to study coronavirus diseases and capture their vectors," Russia’s military official continued. "According to the reporting documents available to us for the Project 'Assessing Risk of Emerging Infections from Insectivorous Bats in Ukraine and Georgia,' coronavirus studies were conducted in 2016-2020."

"The report notes '... that during the work in Ukraine, bats were identified that migrate up to 800 km deep into countries such as Hungary and Russia...'" Kirillov said.

According to him, it was suspicious that scientists who were experts in the field of bioinformatics participated in the research on coronavirus strains, although they were tasked to study genomes of the detected disease.

"It is also worth noting that the research involved bioinformatics specialists whose work included editing and combining the genomes of identified pathogens, i.e. research traditionally associated with improving the functions of dangerous viruses," Kirillov said.

Russia’s senior military official also noted that the US medical establishment’s preparedness for the COVID outbreak points to an alleged deal between "various U.S. government agencies and so-called Big Pharma."

"It is also difficult to explain the high level of preparedness of American mRNA vaccine manufacturers for the pandemic of a new coronavirus infection," Kirillov stated. "This suggests collusion between various U.S. government agencies and so-called Big Pharma."

"The spread of the new coronavirus infection has led to a significant increase in the profits of biotech companies that produce vaccines and drugs against coronaviruses, as well as increased the dependence of developing countries on the United States and created the conditions for the continued implementation of dual-use programs," Kirillov said.

According to the latest statistics provided by Worldometer online stats counter, over 699,232 million people have been infected worldwide with COVID-19 since 2020 while the global death toll currently stands at over 6,954.100 million.