The spokeswoman for the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Maria Zajárova, demanded this Wednesday that the Government of the United States (USA) inform the international community about the programs that were carried out in biological laboratories installed in Ukraine and financed by the US Department of Defense.
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The existence of these laboratories was recently admitted by the Under Secretary for Political Affairs of the US Department of State, Victoria Nuland.
Zajárova assured during a briefing that these facilities were supervised by US experts and developed biological materials for military use.
�� #Zakharova: We confirm that the special military operation in Ukraine revealed facts of the emergency eradication by the Kiev regime of traces of the military biological program implemented by Kiev with funding from the US @DeptofDefense. pic.twitter.com/xeeXGsGsdv
– MFA Russia ���� (@mfa_russia)
March 9, 2022
He argued that the Kremlin received documentation from employees of those laboratories “about the emergency destruction on February 24 of especially dangerous pathogens of plague, anthrax, cholera and other deadly diseases.”
He said that Russia is concerned about whether or not those materials were destroyed, and asked how what the US says about their destruction can be verified. He questioned whether they fell into the hands of extremists or nationalists. “Who will give these guarantees?” she delved into.
Zakharova also asked the press: “Who was in charge of the Ukrainian Ministry of Health for many years? (…) What country did this wonderful doctor who headed the Ukrainian Ministry of Health come from? I remember very well: from the American continent”, she said in probable reference to Víctor Lyashko, who for three years, while a government official, worked for the United States Agency for International Development (Usaid, for its acronym in English). .
The importance of the US immediately offering public information on this issue was also addressed by the spokesman for the Russian Presidency, Dmitri Peskov.
Even the spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, Zhao Lijian, declared that his country asked the White House to reveal details about these laboratories, the types of viruses they store and the investigations they undertake.
During her press conference, Zajárova pointed out that the special military operation deployed by Russia since February 24 seeks to protect the population of Donbas and demilitarize-denazify Ukraine, but not to occupy it or overthrow the government of President Volodimir Zelensky.
The existence of the laboratories was made public last Sunday by the spokesman for the Russian Defense Ministry, Major General Igor Konashénkov. The officer said they were located near Russian territory, developing biological weapons components, and that the Ukrainian government hastily tried to destroy evidence that it was a US-funded program.