MOSCOW, October 25. /TASS/. German scientists’ findings regarding the laboratory origin of the novel coronavirus, as well as information from the United States about a new virus strain having a fatality rate of 80%, confirm that the United States is conducting dangerous military biological activities on the territory of other countries, including Ukraine, the co-chair of the parliamentary commission investigating the work of US biological laboratories in Ukraine, deputy speaker of Russia’s State Duma, Irina Yarovaya, said following the commission’s meeting on Tuesday.
According to the State Duma’s official website, Yarovaya "drew attention to the latest reports from the United States about a new strain of the coronavirus having a lethality of 80%."
"This information creates additional grounds for linking the dangerous military-biological activities, carried out by the United States on the territory of various countries and in Ukraine, with these studies," Yarovaya is quoted as saying.
She recalled recent statements by German scientists who "proved the laboratory origin of the coronavirus."
"All these facts that have been announced today are solid proof that all the activities carried out by the United States in the military-biological field require not only transparency, but also serious monitoring and evaluation," Yarovaya said.
She recalled that earlier the commission had already stressed the United States was imposing on the world an aggressive image of Russia in order to divert attention from the "dangerous research it is conducting."
"Publications by German and British scientists confirm the United States’ interest in concealing this information," Yarovaya stressed.
About the commission
In March, Russia’s State Duma and Federation Council adopted a resolution to conduct a special parliamentary inquiry into the operation of biological laboratories in Ukraine and to create a special panel of 14 Duma members and 14 Federation Council members. State Duma Deputy Speaker Irina Yarovaya and Federation Council Deputy Speaker Konstantin Kosachev are the commission’s co-chairs.
Yarovaya said earlier the inquiry was to produce a factsheet to be dispatched to the Russian president and government and international organizations. The memo will contain the necessary evidence and "expose cause-and-effect relationships, threats and challenges and all organizations, legal entities and officials involved."
Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov earlier stated that Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine led to the acquisition of evidence indicating that the Kiev regime urgently eliminated traces of the military biological program in Ukraine, sponsored under a special program by the US Department of Defense.
Ukrainian lab employees testified that on February 24 pathogens of plague, anthrax, tularemia, cholera and other deadly diseases had been urgently eliminated, Konashenkov said.
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. She said the US Department of State was "quite concerned that Russian troops, Russian forces, may be seeking to gain control of [those labs], so we are working with the Ukrainians on how they can prevent any of those research materials from falling into the hands of Russian forces."