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Russian general blames Pentagon for exploiting Nigerians as 'free clinical resource'

Igor Kirillov added that "the number of Nigerian citizens receiving antiviral therapy with products of Gilead Pharmaceutics company has steadily increased over the funding period reaching 60% of the total number of patients"

MOSCOW, October 31. /TASS/. The pharmaceuticals the US provides to Nigeria as part of the fight against HIV/AIDS have no therapeutic impact, while the Pentagon uses Nigerians as a "free clinical resource," said Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov, head of Russia’s Nuclear, Biological and Chemical (NBC) Protection Troops.

"American pharmaceuticals, even with the documented increase in consumption in Nigeria, do not have a tangible therapeutic impact, and Nigerian citizens are being exploited as a 'free clinical resource,'" he said at a briefing on the United States’ military and biological activities.

Kirillov pointed out that the effectiveness of the US program to combat HIV/AIDS in Nigeria was questionable. "Despite annual funding increases totalling about $100,000,000, the HIV incidence rate has remained virtually unchanged and corresponds with 2009 figures. The mortality among HIV-infected people also shows unfavorable progression," the Russian general said.

He added that "the number of Nigerian citizens receiving antiviral therapy with products of Gilead Pharmaceutics company has steadily increased over the funding period reaching 60% of the total number of patients."

"Thus, under the cover of 'public health' issues on the African continent, the Pentagon solves its own tasks: it monitors the biological situation, collects and exports samples of infectious agents and their vectors," Kirillov stressed.

According to him, these activities continue to this day. "In August 2022, DTRA (the US Defense Threat Reduction Agency - TASS) signed a three-year contract with RTI International, a US-based non-profit organization aimed at surveillance of infectious disease threats in Nigeria," the chief of Russia’s NBC Protection Troops said.

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