In the News March 25
Behind U.S. Refusal to Speak Clearly about Its Biological Research Labs in Ukraine
Support Calls to Provide Full Information and Allow for Multilateral Verification
On February 26, two days after the conflict in Ukraine began, news agencies reported that 15 links to pdf documents describing Pentagon-funded Ukrainian biological research laboratories dealing with dangerous pathogens were deleted from the website of the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine.[1]
On March 6, Russian Defense Ministry spokesperson Igor Konashenkov revealed evidence of a U.S.-financed military biological program developed in Ukraine. The government of Ukraine had applied “hasty measures” to “conceal any traces” of the program, he added.
On March 7, the chief of the Radiation, Chemical and Biological Defense Forces of the the Russian Armed Forces, Igor Kirillov said the Russian military had discovered 30 biolaboratories in Ukraine. Since that time Russia has called on the U.S. to make public full information concerning what research was taking place, what pathogens were involved, the role of the Pentagon and what is being done to secure the safety of all.
Screenshot of Russian Defence Ministry briefing showing U.S.-sponsored biolabs on Ukraininan territory.
On March 8, China’s Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Zhao Lijian spoke to the U.S. “using such pretexts as cooperating to reduce biological safety risks and strengthening global public health,” to justify hundreds of biological labs worldwide, as wells as “the many biological military activities at the Fort Detrick base at home.” Fort Detrick is notorious for combined Army-CIA experiments responsible for the torture and deaths of many and currently home to a Level-4 “biodefense” lab.
Echoing the concerns of many worldwide, especially in Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, where U.S. use of biological and chemical weapons is also known, Zhao Lijian asked, “What is the true intention of the U.S.? What has it done specifically? The international community has long-held doubts. However, the U.S. has kept stonewalling, and even dismissing the international community’s doubts as spreading disinformation.”
To date the U.S. has not made public the research and results attained as part of the Pentagon’s Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA), which funds the Ukrainian and other labs. Fort Detrick research remains secret.
On March 9, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki stepped up efforts to dismiss international concerns, tweeting that the U.S. “took note of Russia’s false claims about alleged U.S. biological weapons labs and chemical weapons development in Ukraine.” She added that “we’ve also seen Chinese officials echo these conspiracy theories,” calling the allegations “preposterous.”
The same day, the State Department issued a statement saying, “The United States does not own or operate any chemical or biological laboratories in Ukraine, it is in full compliance with its obligations under the Chemical Weapons Convention and Biological Weapons Convention, and it does not develop or possess such weapons anywhere.”
Perhaps then it can explain how it is that policing agencies across the U.S. have used and continue to use tear gas, banned as a chemical weapon in wartime, or its use of deleted uranium weaponry in Iraq and elsewhere and why it refuses to support or comply with a verification program for the Chemical Weapons Convention and Biological Weapons Convention. Why, if the research serves public health, the reluctance to provide full information?
Both Russia and China uphold the requirements of international rule of law in terms of calling on the U.S. to provide information and verification about biological research and ensuring that it does not involve military-related and bioweapons research. It is a legitimate concern given the U.S. use of biological weapons during the Korean war, their use against the people of Cuba on various occasions and much more. Also, it is legitimate given the involvement of the Pentagon and their refusal to speak to just how biological threats are being reduced while the labs themselves are being upgraded, such as the one in Odessa, Ukraine. Odessa is also one of the areas where Ukraine’s neo-Nazi forces are known to operate.
On March 11, the Pentagon released a “Fact Sheet,” that provided some general information concerning the Pentagon’s Defense Threat Reduction Agency, which runs its Biological Threat Reduction Program in Ukraine and elsewhere.[2] It did show that the Pentagon is directly involved and has provided about $200 million since 2005 in “supporting 46 Ukrainian laboratories, health facilities, and diagnostic sites.” It also said the Pentagon works with Ukraine’s Ministry of Defence “providing mobile diagnostic laboratories to provide on-the-ground assistance in a public health emergency.” It left it to Ukrainian scientists to speak to their research, taking no responsibility for providing an accounting of the role of the U.S. and Ukrainian militaries. Coinciding with the statement, pdfs about the program reappeared on the webpage of the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv.
Rather than providing a full accounting of its biological research, especially that involving deadly pathogens and ways to circulate them, at home and abroad, the U.S. has dismissed the concerns as disinformation and issued yet more threats.
Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said on March 11, without a shred of evidence, that the U.S. is watching very closely for a potential false flag operation because Russia has a “reputation for using those kinds of weapons on people.” At a White House event President Biden said, “I’m not going to speak about the intelligence, but Russia would pay a severe price if it uses chemical weapons.”
The peoples of the world are to trust U.S. secret “intelligence,” known for proclaiming weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and lies about Libya and Syria to justify U.S./NATO aggressive wars. It is to divert from the issue at hand, which is an accounting of the “biodefense” laboratories, the Pentagon’s role, given it says they do not involve military-related research, and their refusal to support multilateral verification of the research and activities conducted.
Notes
1. As reported by Bulgarian journalist Dilyana Gaytandzhieve, Radio France International, the documents were still archived at Wayback machine. They were returned to the Embassy page March 10, under its Defense Threat Reduction Office (DTRO), which is directly tied to and funded by the Pentagon’s Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA).
For further coverage: US-funded biolabs in Ukraine at the heart of ongoing propaganda war.
TML Daily, posted March 25, 2022.
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