Kiev and Washington are violating the Convention on the Prohibition of Biological and Toxin Weapons (BTWC), also known as the Biological Weapons Convention, according to Vasily Nebenzia, Russia's Permanent Representative to the UN.
At a UN Security Council meeting, the Russian envoy said there is evidence of "dangerous military-biological activities" in the centre of Eastern Europe. Nebenzia said that the aftermath of these activities could have "splashed out" beyond the borders of not just Ukraine, but the entire region.
"The scale of impact, including among the population of European countries, in this case is even difficult to imagine. It is possible that even the [impact caused by the] coronavirus epidemic could pale compared to this," the Russian envoy said.
The Russian Defence Ministry earlier accused the Pentagon of funding biological research in Ukraine in order to create bioweapons and conduct studies on the spread of dangerous infections and viruses.
The United States has called claims of US-funded biowarfare programmes in Ukraine "false pretexts" that are created "in an attempt to justify its own horrific actions in Ukraine". The statements from Washington came after Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland said there were biological laboratories in Ukraine and added that the US was concerned about Russians possibly taking control over them.
The Russian Defence Ministry, however, rolled out a handful of documents that, it said, pointed to the fact that components of biological weapons were being created in Ukraine with direct US involvement and financing.
According to the released documents, several top Ukrainian biolabs had received tens of millions of dollars to study infectious diseases, particularly looking into pathogens of Crimean Congo hemorrhagic fever, leptospirosis and hantaviruses.
In light of the military-biological activities in Ukraine, Russia may establish a consultation mechanism under the Biological Weapons Convention, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova noted earlier.
Russia, Ukraine and the United States are among the 183 countries that are party to the BTWC, which prohibits the development, acquisition, stockpiling and use of biological and toxic weapons.