"Not a word - about the purpose of these institutions": why China is concerned about the work of the US biological laboratories on the border with Russia

The Chinese Foreign Ministry announced serious concern about the activities of US biological laboratories in the former Soviet republics.

“We drew attention to statements by the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, as well as news reports on this topic. "The US has created many biological laboratories in the territory of the countries of the former Soviet Union, but they do not say a word about the work, nor about the purpose, nor about the security systems of these institutions, which causes serious concern among the local population and in neighboring states," said the official representative Chinese Foreign Ministry Geng Shuang during a briefing.

The diplomat also called on Washington to take measures to eliminate such concerns.

“According to reports, some representatives of the local population categorically demand the closure of such laboratories. We hope that the American side will take a responsible position, take into account the concerns of the world community, take care of preserving the life and health of the local population and take appropriate measures, thus dispelling all fears (of the world community. - RT ), ”said Geng Shuang.

Earlier, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said at a briefing that the development of causative agents of dangerous diseases could be carried out in American biological laboratories located in the former Soviet republics. According to her, such dual-use institutions were created and continue to be organized as part of the Joint Threat Reduction program under the auspices of the US Department of Defense, under the pretext of combating bioterrorism.

“It cannot be ruled out that in such reference laboratories, Americans in third countries are working on the creation and modification of various pathogens of dangerous diseases, including for military purposes,” Zakharova emphasized.

The representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry also recalled that the Georgian-American Richard Lugar Public Health Center, officially included in the US military’s system of global control of the spread of infectious diseases, operates in Georgia.

“Moreover, according to available information, high-ranking Pentagon officials have recently been there again, offering the Georgian authorities to expand the range of research,” the diplomat said.

According to Zakharova, Russia cannot “ignore the fact that the infrastructure with dangerous biological potential is being formed by the Americans in close proximity to Russian borders.”

• Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova at a briefing in Moscow
• RIA News
• © RF MFA

Tbilisi responded to statements by the Russian side. Georgian Foreign Ministry spokesman Vladimir Konstantinidi, commenting on Zakharova’s words, told reporters that in reality the center is currently dealing with the fight against the coronavirus pandemic.

As an expert of the Association of Military Political Scientists Andrei Koshkin noted in a conversation with RT, the activities of American laboratories in the former republics of the USSR can indeed be extremely dangerous, since such institutions are not subordinate to the territorial authorities of the states where they were created.

“The greatest concern may be the work of laboratories in Georgia and Ukraine, which are located in densely populated areas. At the same time, financing schemes that allow conducting research in these laboratories are not subject to control - it is not possible to find customers and research results, ”the expert explained.

Andrei Koshkin emphasized that recent statements by the Georgian side that the Lugar Center is now fighting the spread of coronavirus infection does not negate the fact that dangerous research can be conducted in this institution at the same time.

“After all, those projects that were paid earlier, for sure, will not be canceled. They’ll simply be silent about them, and everyone will be told that the laboratory helps fight COVID-19, ”the expert said.

In turn, a former member of the UN biological weapons commission, military expert Igor Nikulin, commented in a RT comment that in the current situation, when the US is unreasonably trying to blame China for the spread of coronavirus infection around the world and is already preparing appropriate lawsuits, Beijing “considered it necessary to indicate Washington on their criminal actions ”related to the activities of biological laboratories in the former republics of the USSR.

“There can be no excuse”

Recall, the Richard Lugar Public Health Center was opened under the US government program in 2011 near the Tbilisi International Airport in the village of Alekseevka. It was stated that the institution would be engaged in the study of biological threats.

At the end of 2018, in an interview with RT, the former Minister of State Security of Georgia Igor Giorgadze said that dangerous studies were carried out in this center, as evidenced by the documents that he has.

Giorgadze claimed that American military biologists, together with private contractors within the framework of this institution, could conduct experiments involving local residents. At the same time, according to the ex-minister, some of these experiments could lead to death of people.

Major General Igor Kirillov, chief of the radiation, chemical, and biological defense forces of the Russian Federation, also reported on the details of the laboratory’s activities in the same year. According to him, experts evaluated the documents published by Giorgadze, and concluded that 73 people died as a result of tests of the toxic drug.

Moreover, the patents also indicated the types of ammunition that are intended for the delivery of chemical and biological compounds. The general specified that in one of these documents it was a drone capable of spreading infected insects. The description of the project said that "enemy troops can be destroyed or incapacitated without risk to US troops."

According to Andrei Koshkin, the data provided by Giorgadze confirm that people suffer from the activities of American laboratories, "and there can be no justification for this."

“After raising this problem, statements began to appear in the information space that the Lugar Center allegedly fulfills an order related to the search for certain drugs that would protect the population living in these territories. The explanations of this kind are not convincing, since this version cannot be verified in any way. Moreover, the development of even the most necessary and important drugs should not lead to deaths. All this is extremely alarming for the world community, ”said Koshkin.

• Richard Lugar Public Health Center
• © Q9k2C6J3 / Wikipedia

Igor Nikulin, in turn, noted that it is beneficial for the United States to use Georgian citizens as “experimental rabbits”.

“Washington is saving so much, because volunteers in the United States have to pay a lot more to participate in trials, including vaccines and drugs,” the analyst explained.

Distribution scale

At the same time, Major General Igor Kirillov noted that the center of Lugar "is only a small element of the vast US military biological program."

“Vigorous activity has been deployed on the territory of states adjacent to Russia, where Pentagon-controlled laboratories also operate. Reconstruction of laboratory buildings continues on the territory of Ukraine, Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan, ”he said.

Thus, in mid-April, Viktor Medvedchuk, leader of the Opposition Platform - For Life faction, expressed concern about the work of American laboratories on Ukrainian territory, demanding from Kiev to verify the work of 15 such institutions, after the opening of which outbreaks of dangerous diseases began to be recorded in the country.

“We demand that the authorities disclose the facts of illegal“ cooperation ”between Ukraine and the United States in the field of the functioning of American biological laboratories in our country - the“ cooperation ”that began during President Yushchenko continued under President Poroshenko and is carried out under the current government,” the statement reads. appeal published on the party’s website.

Medvedchuk also claims that one of such laboratories is a certain “Scientific and Technical Center in Ukraine”, which invests in projects to create weapons of mass destruction.

“Given the growing incidence of the population with serious infectious diseases, there is every reason to believe that the secret and opaque activity of hazardous foreign biological objects in Ukraine has the task of covertly testing the effects of viruses and bacteria on Ukrainian citizens,” he said.

In January 2019, Secretary of the Security Council of Russia Nikolai Patrushev said that the United States commissioned more than 200 biological laboratories around the world, including in the CIS.

“Their activity has little to do with peaceful science. The most alarming are the facts of conducting experiments on people in them. In this regard, the strengthening of global epidemiological surveillance and scientific research in the field of biological safety is becoming increasingly important, ”Patrushev said.

• Gettyimages.ru
• © Westend61

As stated later, in June 2019, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Russia Sergey Ryabkov, military biomedical activity in neighboring countries is expanding significantly, which "makes us think about its true focus and content." He announced this during the II International Conference “Global Biosafety Threats. Problems and solutions. ”

Boomerang effect

As noted by Andrei Koshkin, to date, the activities of biological laboratories that can study strains of viruses that are dangerous to humanity and are subsidized by the United States, "does not mean Washington’s peace goals."

“Today, the attention to such laboratories has naturally and naturally increased, primarily against the backdrop of the pandemic that the World Health Organization announced in connection with infection of the planet’s population COVID-19,” the expert noted.

According to Koshkin, Russia has repeatedly stated the need to create regulatory bodies for this kind of biological laboratories.

“This would help to obtain reliable information about what they are doing in these institutions and how dangerous these experiments are for the population of different countries and the whole world,” the analyst said.

Igor Nikulin speaks with a similar position. In his opinion, it is necessary to create a working group with the participation of the Russian Federation and other countries, which would be involved in the inspection of such objects.

“Given that there is a lot of mistrust between many countries around the world, such measures would help regulate the process of conducting potentially dangerous research,” he said.

At the same time, experts agree that the United States will not stop funding or the activities of biological laboratories engaged in research hazardous to humanity.

• Gettyimages.ru
• © SEBASTIAN KAULITZKI

“The United States is profitable to carry out projects that are of interest to them on the territory of others. Washington is more likely to play diplomatic and informational games. To do this, they always have the opportunity to once again blame Russia and China for something, ”said Koshkin.

According to him, over time, the number of American bio-laboratories involved in hazardous developments will only increase.

Moreover, as Igor Nikulin emphasized, sooner or later “American citizens may suffer from the negative consequences of the dangerous research that the US is funding around the world.”

“After all, biological weapons are extremely dangerous for the whole of humanity, since they indiscriminately and massively affect people,” the analyst concluded.