YEREVAN, June 17. /TASS/. Moscow’s concerns that Ukraine was turned into a base for Washington’s military biological programs were confirmed during Russia’s special military operation, Secretary of the Russian Security Council Nikolay Patrushev said at a meeting with his colleagues in the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) held in Yerevan on Friday.

"During the operation, our suspicions were confirmed that Ukraine became a base for Washington’s military biological programs. Such US projects require particular attention of the civilized world because the Americans were the only ones who didn’t join the protocol on mutual control within the framework of the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention," he said.

The top security official noted that a substantial body of evidence had already been gathered. "The accumulation of new facts on criminal breaches of international laws by the US and Ukraine continues on a persistent basis," he added.

The top official noted that in order to respond to biosecurity threats, serious work was conducted on approving legislation related to CSTO cooperation in this sphere. He reiterated that the documents had been hammered out over a lengthy period of time and in September 2021 were submitted for approval by CSTO states.

Patrushev also emphasized that during the special military operation, Russia had been "defending the Donbass population from genocide by the Kiev regime, performing the demilitarization and denazification of Ukraine and prosecuting war criminals responsible for brutal crimes against civilians".