Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Exposes U.S.-Funded Biochemical Weapons Labs in Ukraine

March 11, 2022 (EIRNS)—During her March 9 press briefing, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova offered a real tour de force, detailing the intelligence on the existence of U.S. Department of Defense-funded biochemical weapons laboratories that have operated in Ukraine for some years, producing dangerous pathogens in violation of the Convention on the Prohibition of Biological and Toxic Weapons (CBTW). Citing documents from employees of some of the Ukrainian bio labs, she said that on Feb. 24, when Russia began its special military operation in Ukraine, lab personnel were ordered to quickly destroy samples of plague, anthrax, cholera and other deadly pathogens in the labs’ possession before they could be discovered by Russian forces.

Russian specialists from the radiation, chemical and biological warfare units are now analyzing the documents found, Zakharova said; but it can already be concluded that “components of biological weapons were developed in Ukrainian bio-laboratories in the direct vicinity of our territory” over years. And, she continued, it’s clear that the rapid destruction of the most dangerous pathogens on Feb. 24 was done to prevent exposing the fact that both Ukraine and the United States have been in violation of Article I of the CBTW. And, she asked, have all the pathogens been destroyed? How were they destroyed? How can that be checked out? “Have extremists or nationalists taken them? Who can guarantee this?” (Emphasis added.)

Russia has made repeated grievances over the years, Zakharova reported, demanding compliance with the CBTW “in the context of military biological activity on the part of the U.S. and its allies in the post-Soviet space.” It has called for an investigation into potential violations of the CBTW, and for strengthening legally binding protocols to the Convention with an effective verification mechanism, but it has been repeatedly blocked by the U.S. Now, she said, “we believe Washington has no chance to remain silent this time, not with the uncovered materials and the recent confirmations by the Ukrainian side and the United States,” referring in the latter case to the March 8 admission by Under Secretary of State Victoria Nuland to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in which she awkwardly admitted that biochemical labs do exist in Ukraine, although claimed the U.S. had nothing to do with them. “We presume that in the near future, the U.S. Department of Defense and the U.S. Presidential Administration will be obliged to explain the programs in Ukraine to the international community and do it officially, not through talking heads.”

She continued: “We are not asking, we are demanding. The world is waiting.” Having just gone through two years of the COVID pandemic,

“maybe, the entire world, all countries on all continents should come to their senses and ask themselves, instead of watching CNN nonsense or reading fake news in the Washington Post: are they ready for yet another ‘adventure’ with an unidentified virus or the global spread of biomaterials, if they have ended up or will end up in the hands of extremists or militants? Are they ready for this? Or are they only ready to express solidarity under strong pressure from those who have built biolabs in many countries and who are guiding their activities directly from the U.S. Department of Defense? These activities are classified. They are not transparent and not subject to any monitoring.”