MOSCOW, October 31. /TASS/. The Russian side has documentary evidence confirming that the US Department of Defense has been assigned the task of monitoring the biological situation in Iraq and Afghanistan, the head of the Radiation, Chemical and Biological Defense Troops has said.

"It has already been repeatedly noted that one of the Pentagon's tasks is so-called 'biological espionage,' i.e. analyzing the epidemic situation along the borders of geopolitical adversaries and in the expected regions of military contingent deployment. The Russian side has data confirming that the Pentagon set tasks to monitor the biological situation in the territories of Iraq and Afghanistan bordering China, Turkey, Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia," Lieutenant-General Igor Kirillov told a news briefing.

The documents emphasize the need for the Pentagon contractors' employees to be brought to leading positions, and field work was supposed to be assigned to those local specialists "who are able to interact with the relevant ministries." At the same time, "it is recommended to minimize the evidence linking to the contractor by making short trips to Afghanistan and Iraq from the Dubai office only if necessary," Kirillov said.

In order to avoid accusations against the Pentagon, some projects were implemented under the cover of the US Department of State, he stated.

"We would like to draw your attention to the US Department of State’s research program in Afghanistan: it included studying the pathogens of especially dangerous and economically significant diseases, i.e. tularemia, anthrax, foot-and-mouth disease, collecting biological samples on the territory of the country, and transporting them to the United States."