Victoria Nuland declares US is protecting ‘biological research facilities’ in Ukraine
By Dave DeCamp
https://thegrayzone.com/2022/03/09/vict ... s-ukraine/
MARCH 9, 2022
Days before Nuland’s comment, the Russian military claimed it had uncovered 30 biological laboratories in Ukraine linked to the Pentagon’s Defense Threat Reduction Agency
Undersecretary of State Victoria Nuland said Tuesday that there are
in Ukraine the US is concerned Russian forces might seize. She made the comments when asked by Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) if Ukraine has chemical or biological weapons.biological research facilities
Nuland said.Ukraine has biological research facilities which in fact we are quite concerned Russian troops, Russian forces, may be seeking to gain control of, so we are working with the Ukrainians on how they can prevent any of those research materials from falling into the hands of Russian forces should they approach,
Days before Nuland’s comment, the Russian military claimed it had uncovered 30 biological laboratories in Ukraine linked to the Pentagon’s Defense Threat Reduction Agency
Nuland’s comments came after Russia accused Ukrainian authorities of destroying pathogens studied at Pentagon-linked laboratories.
the Russian Defense Ministry said on Telegram. https://t.me/mod_russia_en/40During a special military operation, the facts of the Kiev regime’s emergency cleanup of traces of a military biological program funded by the US Department of Defense implemented in Ukraine were revealed,
The Russian Defense Ministry said pathogens that were destroyed include the plague, anthrax, tularemia, cholera, and other deadly diseases.
It’s no secret that the DTRA funds laboratories in Ukraine, but Pentagon officials insist the labs are not bioweapons facilities. On February 25, the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists https://thebulletin.org/2022/02/us-offi ... pathogens/ published an article quoting Robert Pope of the DTRA’s Cooperative Threat Reduction Program, who warned the Russian attack on Ukraine risks dangerous pathogens being released from the labs.
Pope said.I would say from every facility that we have worked with them in, we have confidence that as long as the electrical power is turned on and the people we have trained are present at the facility, the biosafety officers, that these pathogens are safe and secure to international standards,
Pope said he didn’t think Russia would deliberately target the facilities but warned of possible accidents.Should these facilities be damaged by conflict, that could change.
he said.I think the Russians know enough about the kinds of pathogens that are stored in biological research laboratories that I don’t think they would deliberately target a laboratory,
Pope said some of the labs could still have leftover pathogens from the Soviet Union’s bioweapons program. “But what I do have concerns about is that they would … be accidentally damaged during this Russian invasion.
he said.Scientists being scientists, it wouldn’t surprise me if some of these strain collections in some of these laboratories still have pathogen strains that go all the way back to the origins of that program,
According to the article, the US government has worked with 26 facilities in Ukraine and has provided direct material support to six of them.
China has called on the US to release the details of the Pentagon’s biological research programs in Ukraine.
said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian. http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/northa ... 495/c.htmlThe United States, as the party that knows the laboratories best, should release relevant specific information as soon as possible, including what viruses are stored and the research that has been carried out,