MOSCOW, March 29. /TASS/. The countries of the world should unite efforts to beat the coronavirus instead of playing propaganda games over the disease, a source in the Russian Foreign Ministry told TASS on Sunday.
"In order to unambiguously answer the question about the origin, about where the first case emerged, a major research effort needs to be carried out," the source said commenting on the statements by Washington and Beijing on the origin of the disease. "Especially if the virus emerged in a natural environment as a result of natural mutations. This is probably possible not in one place and therefore it is hardly appropriate to blame any country. Moreover, in a globalized world when most states have close transportation links, bringing an infection from one place of the planet to another is just a matter of a few hours."
So, Washington’s accusing tone in comments against China arouses "blatant bewilderment," the source noted. "It’s enough to recall that for dozens of years the US has been a major driving force of globalization and tried to use it for its geopolitical and economic interests," he said. "Probably now they have to blame only themselves because they had not thought about this side effect."
In comment on the US alleged role in the COVID-19 outbreak, the source in the Foreign Ministry noted that Russia did not have this data. "However, for a long time we have been watching with concerns the US military and biological activity carried out in direct proximity with our borders."
The US-funded biological laboratories have been working in the Transcaucasus countries near Russia and in Central Asia, which shares border with China, the source noted. "Even local authorities don’t know what they are doing in these closed facilities. However, it is well-known and the Americans don’t even hide that this research is linked to the Pentagon since it is funded from its budget."
"In other words, indeed, there are some questions for the US. It would be good if they clarified the purpose of their laboratories scattered near Russia and China instead of playing propaganda games over the coronavirus. Now it is crucial to cope with it and this is possible only through joint efforts of the entire mankind," the source stressed.
Recently, US official representatives have stated on numerous occasions that the coronavirus had originated from China, accusing Beijing of failing to take timely measures to prevent the spread of the domestic outbreak into a global pandemic. In its turn, Beijing says that the US troops, who came to Wuhan ahead of the coronavirus outbreak there in November 2019 for the Military World Games, could have brought the virus to China.