MOSCOW, March 31. /TASS/. Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine made it possible to terminate the activities of five Kiev biolaboratories that worked with pathogens of anthrax, cholera and African swine fever, Chief of Russia’s Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Protection Troops Igor Kirillov said on Thursday.
"The termination of activities of five Kiev biolaboratories, which worked with pathogens of anthrax, tularemia, brucellosis, cholera, leptospirosis and African swine fever, is an important result of the Russian Armed Forces’ special operation," he pointed out.
According to Kirillov, part of the pathogen collection was taken to the United States, while the remaining strains were urgently destroyed based on a decree issued by the Ukrainian Health Ministry on February 24.
Kirillov also pointed to "evidence confirming the involvement of those labs in activities commissioned by the US Department of Defense." He specified that one of the biological facilities - the Ukrainian Health Ministry’s Center for Public Health - worked on several UP projects with a total funding of over $30 mln. Besides, Kirillov mentioned a document signed by the head of the center’s ethics committee on June 12, 2019, within the UP-8 project.
"The document concerns research posing an unknown risk to the life and health of its participants and involves steps to hide the identity of those tested. We earlier conducted the project’s research program, which only involves a standard blood sampling procedure. The question arises: what kind of life-threatening tests were conducted there if the document says that "minor incidents involving volunteers must be reported to the US bioethics committee within 72 hours, while serious incidents, including the death of those tested, must be reported within 24 hours?" Kirillov noted.
He did not rule out that "the official research program is just the tip of the iceberg, while in fact, volunteers were infected with the Congo-Crimean fever virus, hantaviruses and leptospirosis."