Russia claims to have "frustrated" the use of biological warfare weapons in Ukraine.
A state news agency accuses the United States of "impudence".
Moscow - The state news agency
Tass
speaks of an "impudence" in its headline: "Russia thwarts Washington's plan to use biological weapons militarily on Ukrainian soil," it reported on Monday (January 30), citing a briefing by the boss of the Russian NBC defense troops, Igor Kirillov.
"We have obtained new information about the key figures in this so-called 'Ukrainian project' who have remained hidden until now," Kirillov was quoted as saying.
Among them are party members of the US Democrats, Pentagon employees and their contractors.
Washington is now trying to move the "unfinished project in Ukraine" to Asia and Eastern Europe as quickly as possible, Kirillov said.
They will investigate and “hold those responsible accountable”.
US biolabs in Ukraine: fact checkers refute speculation
Rumors of US biolabs in Ukraine have been around for years.
Shortly after the beginning of the Ukraine war, it was circulating, especially on the Internet, that the Pentagon was at that point in time making documents about biolabs in Ukraine disappear.
Fact checkers from the
Tagesschau
refuted that.
In addition, it is questionable whether the documents contained sensitive information at all, especially since the US government had once made them public.
Even before the Ukraine war, US fact-checkers labeled the claim that Russia was specifically trying to attack these bio-labs in Ukraine as false and part of a Russian disinformation campaign.
Vladimir Putin: The political career of the Russian head of state in pictures
Vladimir Putin: The political career of the Russian head of state in pictures
Secret bioweapons labs: Russia blames US and Ukraine
It was not until December in Geneva that the signatory states agreed to strengthen the Biological Weapons Convention.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres commended that this could be a basis for measures to reduce the risk of deliberate use of biological weapons.
All other disarmament efforts failed in 2022, above all due to the resistance of Russia under Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin, who has put his country on a confrontational course in multilateral forums since his attack on Ukraine.
In Geneva, too, Russia repeated allegations that the United States and Ukraine operate secret laboratories for the production of biological weapons.
In the case of similar complaints, including in the Security Council, they did not present any evidence.
The United States and Ukraine have always denied the allegations.
Signs of such laboratories have not yet surfaced.
The UN Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Manufacture and Stockpiling of Bacteriological (Biological) Weapons and Toxin Weapons and on the Destruction of Such Weapons came into force in 1975.
Only Israel and eight other small countries in Africa and Asia are not States Parties.
(frs with dpa material)