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Russia can thwart US bioweapons programs in third countries — Kosachev

What the Americans have managed to do in Ukraine must not be allowed to be done anywhere else, the Deputy Speaker of the Federation Council stressed

MOSCOW, May 20. /TASS/. Russia is capable of thwarting possibility for the United States to pursue bioweapons programs in third countries, said Konstantin Kosachev, Deputy Speaker of the Federation Council (upper house of parliament).

"We expect, that once work has been completed and a legal framework has been created, we will thwart the possibility of pursuing this kind of programs in third countries," said Kosachev, who co-chairs the parliamentary commission, investigating into American biolaboratories in Ukraine. "What the Americans have managed to do in Ukraine must not be allowed to be done anywhere else," he said.

Russia has so far signed four memoranda on cooperation in biosecurity - with Armenia, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan, Kosachev said. Similar documents with Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Azerbaijan are about to be signed, he said.

Ukraine "has long been deprived of sovereignty and it is now almost 100% under US control," Kosachev said. The number of biolabs in Ukraine has increased to 30 from 11 in Soviet times, he added.

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