Originally published August 17, 2023 8:33 am PDT
In a recent report from Russia’s Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation, Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov, Chief of Nuclear, Chemical, and Biological Protection Troops, has made pointed claims regarding the U.S. and its allies’ military and biological activities in Ukraine and other countries.
The Ministry notes, “U.S. military-biological activity pose a security threat to many nations around the world.”
They allege that the U.S., despite proclaiming to “monitor disease incidence and provide assistance to developing countries,” is instead seen to be “conducting uncontrolled dual-use research in circumvention of international obligations under the BTWC.”
One of the major contentions raised is the accusation that American military projects “are primarily aimed at studying potential agents of biological weapons — anthrax, tularemia, coronavirus, as well as pathogens of economically significant infections — pathogenic avian influenza and African swine fever.”
The release further suggests a pattern, stating, “There is a clear trend: pathogens that fall within the Pentagon’s area of interest, such as COVID-19, avian influenza, African swine fever, subsequently become pandemic, and American pharmaceutical companies become the beneficiaries.”
Linking the current COVID-19 pandemic to U.S. activities, the press release mentions, “Earlier, we informed about the possible involvement of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) in the emergence of the new coronavirus.”
It points to the EcoHealth Alliance as a “key” organization in studying the coronavirus since 2015, “searching for new strains of coronavirus and mechanisms of their transmission from animals to humans.”
Drawing further connections, the Ministry recalls, “on 18 October 2019, two months before the first official reports about the emergence of the new coronavirus infection in China, John Hopkins University conducted Event 201 exercise in New York.”
The exercise, they claim, mimics the real-world transmission of the virus “from bats to humans via a porcine organism, the intermediary virus carrier,” raising “questions about the possible intentional nature of COVID-19 and U.S. involvement in the incident.”
Moreover, the establishment of the Office of Pandemic Preparedness and Response Policy by the U.S. on 21 July 2023 has drawn scrutiny.
The Russian Ministry warns, “We do not rule out that the United States will use of so-called defensive technologies for offensive purposes, as well as for global governance by creating crisis situations of a biological nature.”
Highlighting the role of the U.S. Army Research Institute for Infectious Diseases, currently headed by Colonel Constance Jenkins, the release states that the institute, established at “Fort Detrick at a bioweapons development facility,” is directly involved “in the collection of dangerous pathogens in various regions of the world, testing of unregistered drugs, as well as the implementation of dual-use programmes.”
Lastly, the press release unveils the names of individuals linked to alleged “U.S. military-biological programmes on the territory of Ukraine.”
They include Natalia Dudko, who “coordinated more than 250 STCU projects in various scientific fields”; Lyudmila Chernenko, General Director of the Centre for Public Health of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine; and Aleksandr Matskov, who “oversaw the overall implementation of a U.S.-funded dual-use project on COVID-19.”
The Russian Defence Ministry asserts it will continue its investigation, promising to “publish the names of officials of biotechnology corporations and other Pentagon contractors” linked to these programs.