MOSCOW, December 19. /TASS/. Georgia’s ex-state security minister, Igor Giorgadze, is calling on the Richard Lugar Public Health Research Center near Tbilisi, suspected of carrying out dangerous experiments on humans, to share data on its programs.
"The center’s documentation is negligent. This negligence by responsible persons undermines trust in the program [struggle against hepatitis C] which can provide assistance to the Georgian population," Giorgadze said. "I do not suggest shutting down the program, but there is the need to dispel doubts. People must know what they are getting themselves into."
The ex-minister noted that the agreement between the US Gilead pharmaceutical company, which implements the program on struggling against hepatitis C and the Georgian Health Ministry says that the company "does not bear any responsibility." "The document is classified. What is classified here? We are calling to eliminate errors, disclose statistics and make the program transparent," he noted.
According to Giorgadze, the Lugar Center is financed by the US and the Pentagon bankrolls utility services and salaries for border guards. "Grants are awarded, and the projects are implemented in 2015-2021. For example, four grants are to the tune of nearly $2mln," he noted.
The first laboratory staff members were US citizens with diplomatic passports. "Similar laboratories also work in Azerbaijan, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Moldova, Uzbekistan and Ukraine," he said.
The Richard Lugar Public Health Research Center opened in Alekseyevka near Tbilisi’s international airport in 2011 under a US government program. The Center conducts research into biological threats.
In September, Giorgadze told reporters at a news conference in Moscow that he had evidence confirming that the Richard Lugar Public Health Research Center carried out dangerous experiments and called on US President Donald Trump to investigate the laboratory’s activity. Giorgadze claimed that US military and private contractors could be engaged in secret experiments on humans there.