China calls on Washington to unveil bio-labs in Ukraine

A spokesperson for the Chinese foreign ministry said yesterday that Beijing is urging Washington to disclose details of US-funded biological labs in Ukraine. The spokesman demanded disclosure of the types of viruses stored in these labs, as well as details of the research conducted in them. Given the nature of the current situation in Ukraine, he added, all parties should ensure the safety of the labs.

China’s statement came a day after the defence ministry in Moscow accused the US of running 30 biological labs in Ukraine, producing viruses that cause serious diseases. The head of Russia’s radiation, chemical and biological protection force, Igor Kirillov, noted that Russian troops have destroyed some of them, reported Anadolu Agency.

“Military biological programmes are being implemented by the Pentagon in post-Soviet countries, including in Ukraine,” explained Kirillov. “A network of more than 30 biological laboratories has been created, which can be divided into research and sanitary-epidemiological sites in the cities of Lviv, Kharkiv, and Poltava.”

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The Russian official added that there were traces of pathogens of the plague, anthrax, brucellosis, diphtheria, salmonellosis and dysentery. Neither Kyiv nor Washington commented on this.

Kirillov noted that in Lviv alone, 232 containers were destroyed containing the causative agent of leptospirosis, 30 with tularaemia, 10 with brucellosis and five with plague.

In the same context, Moscow claimed that Washington spent more than $200 million on the work of the biological labs in Ukraine. Furthermore, it alleged that the labs of the Central Directorate of Health and Epidemiology of the Ukrainian Ministry of Defence participated in the US military biological programme.