Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev said that Moscow is particularly concerned by the Pentagon's biolabs operating in Central Asia, similar to those it used to run in Ukraine and Georgia. These labs are capable of creating "race-specific" viruses, Patrushev specified.
Patrushev urged his Central Asian colleagues to cooperate and coordinate more closely on biosecurity issues, including within the framework of bilateral memorandums already concluded.
The United States and the United Kingdom seek to destabilize the situation in Central Asian countries in order to warrant the expansion of NATO's military presence in the region, Patrushev said.
"Central Asia has become a priority target of their information influence to establish control over the population. The manipulation of public opinion by Washington and London is aimed at aggravating the internal political situation, pressuring the authorities and forming a stratum of the population that shares values alien to the centuries-old traditions of Central Asian peoples," Patrushev said at the inaugural Russia-Central Asia meeting of security council chiefs in Kazakhstan.
Its purpose is to create ploys to expand NATO's military presence in the region, and this can be done by taking advantage of the security risks emanating from Afghanistan, the Russian security chief said.
"The Americans and the British are trying to manipulate the terrorist insurgency in Afghanistan to their advantage by provoking tensions on the borders with Central Asian countries. Given the interest of Afghanistan's neighbors in strengthening their borders and improving the training and equipping their security forces, the United States and its NATO allies are seeking to expand their presence in Central Asia and create more opportunities to influence them," Patrushev said.