"Russia has every reason to believe that components of biological weapons have been developed in the immediate vicinity of Russian borders. In particular, we have observed the US and its allies conducting biological warfare research beyond their national borders, including on our neighbors’ territory," Sergei Ryabkov told reporters in Moscow.
Russia finds it "unacceptable," he added, that foreign military officials working in countries bordering Russia have been sampling human pathogens and exporting national collections of infectious diseases, including extremely dangerous and vaccine-resistant strains.
The senior Russian diplomat spoke at a briefing ahead of the 9th Review Conference of the Biological Weapons Convention, which will take place in Switzerland from November 28 to December 16. The convention prohibits the development, production and stockpiling of biological and toxin weapons, and advocates their destruction.
Cropped excerpt from Russian Defence Ministry briefing slide showing locations of suspected US-controlled biolabs in Nigeria, including two in Abuja, one in Zaria, and one in the capital, Lagos.
© Photo : Russian Ministry of Defence
Ryabkov said Russia would present the proof of the United States conducting such research in Ukraine on the sidelines of the upcoming Geneva conference. Washington has denied researching in the field in violation of the bioweapons convention, which it signed up to and ratified in the 1970s.
"The Russian delegation will hold a separate, open-door event at the upcoming review conference during which our experts will again present the evidence at their disposal and raise the biological warfare activities in Ukraine," he said.
Russia has been circulating its findings on the Pentagon’s pathogen research in Ukraine since March but Ukrainian authorities and their US sponsors have repeatedly "brushed aside these signals and claims," the diplomat said. Russia will now seek to improve trust-building measures in the convention to hold signatories accountable for conducting illicit research abroad.
After the beginning of the special military op in Ukraine, Russian forces discovered multiple US-funded facilites with evidence of biowarfare studies. At first, the White House denied such activities, but in June 2022, the US admitted funding 46 biolabs in Ukraine. However, both Washington and Kiev deny that the labs served military purposes, claiming they were being used for peaceful research only.