Ryabkov: Russia concerned over military bioactivity with US involvement near its borders

Russia regularly voices its deep concern over military biological activity conducted with the US participation near its borders, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said at the opening of the international conference ‘Bio-Threats and Pathogens.

“Russia regularly expresses its deep concern in the wake of military biological activity conducted with the direct assistance and participation of the US military agency in laboratories close to the Russian borders, far beyond American territory,” the senior Russian diplomat stressed, according to Itar Tass.

Moscow has submitted and is promoting the initiatives aimed at strengthening and institutionalizing the regime of the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BTWC), Ryabkov pointed out.

“They include the initiatives of setting up mobile bio-medical teams and anti-epidemic groups,” he added.

Earlier, then-Secretary of Russia’s Security Council Nikolay Patrushev said that the United States had established a network of laboratories around Russia that particularly conducted experiments with biomaterials of the Slavs. He further said that the main threat to biosecurity of central Russia came precisely from Washington’s activities.

In mid-April, a Russian parliamentary commission submitted a final report of a probe into the work of US biological laboratories in Ukraine. This document indicates that the Pentagon’s military-biological program has acquired a large scope lately and is being implemented under the guise of counter-terror projects and activities permitted by the BTWC.