Ukraine labs working on agents of plague, anthrax as part of US-led biological programme: Russia

New Delhi, March 7: More than 30 laboratories in Ukraines Lvov, Kharkiv and Poltava have been working with dangerous infectious agents as part of the US-led military biological programme. This was stated by Igor Kirillov, the head of the radiation, chemical and biological protection troops of the Russian Armed Forces.

"A network has been formed on the territory of Ukraine, which includes more than 30 biological laboratories that can be divided into research and sanitary-epidemiological ones," he said at a briefing, RT reported. Kirillov added that the customer of the ongoing work is the Defense Threat Reduction Office (DTRA).

"Analysis of acts of destruction shows the work with pathogens of plague, anthrax and brucellosis in the Lviv biological laboratory," the military leader noted. Kirillov stressed that in Kharkov and Poltava, they worked with pathogens of diphtheria, salmonellosis and dysentery. Earlier, the Russian Defense Ministry showed documents from Ukrainian biological laboratories, which are funded by the US Department of Defense.

The documents showed that Ukrainian biological laboratories located in close proximity to Russia were developing components of biological weapons, Ren TV reported. "We have received from employees of Ukrainian biological laboratories documentation on the emergency destruction of especially dangerous pathogens of plague, anthrax, tularemia, cholera and other deadly diseases on February 24," the report said.

The Ministry of Defense reported that after the start of the Russian special operation in Donbass, the Pentagon had concerns that information about secret biological experiments conducted on the territory of Ukraine would be disclosed. The received documents are now being analysed by Russian specialists from the troops of radiation, chemical and biological protection.