TSAMTO, January 16th. On January 15, Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov, Head of the Russian Armed Forces Defense Forces, held a briefing on the analysis of documents related to the military biological activities of the United States.
Below is a transcript of I.Kirillov's speech as presented by the Department of Information and Mass Communications of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation.
"During 2023, the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation carried out a detailed analysis of the military biological activities of the United States in Ukraine and other regions of the world, which gave a more complete understanding of their programs in the field of military biology.
Based on the analysis of documents obtained during a special military operation, the structure of the system created by the American administration for global biological risk management became clear. It consists of government agencies and private contracting companies, including enterprises of the so-called "Big Pharma".
Through the executive authorities of the United States, a legislative framework is being formed to finance military biological research directly from the federal budget. State guarantees attract funds from non-governmental organizations controlled by the leadership of the Democratic Party, including the investment funds of the Clintons, Rockefellers, Soros, Biden.
The main contractors of the American military department are Metabiota, Black & Hiv and C.H.T.M. Hill, which are responsible for the construction of biological facilities and the supply of equipment for Pentagon biolabs around the world. The work is coordinated by the Office of Threat Reduction of the US Department of Defense (DITRA).
The activity of this system is aimed at studying the pathogens of particularly dangerous infections in strategically important regions of the world for the United States, monitoring the biological situation and achieving excellence in the field of bio-production. One of the priorities is the so–called "biological espionage" - the analysis of the epidemiological situation along the borders of geopolitical opponents and in the proposed areas of deployment of military contingents.
Materials were received confirming that the American military department was tasked with monitoring the biological situation in the Middle East and Central Asia, territories bordering China, Turkey, Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia.
Over the past year, the Pentagon has developed and adopted a number of conceptual documents that envisage the expansion of a foreign network of U.S.-controlled biological laboratories and the continuation of military biological research beyond national jurisdiction.
In addition, in 2023, administrative and technical structures were created (the White House Office for Pandemic Preparedness, as well as the Bureau of Global Health and Diplomacy of the State Department), whose main task is to implement a policy for further military biological expansion.
While the stated goals are to monitor infectious diseases and provide assistance to developing countries, using the example of Ukraine, it became clear how the US military biological potential is being built up.
By the time the special military operation began, the Pentagon was carrying out projects in the country "Yu-Pi" and "TEP" aimed at studying the pathogens of particularly dangerous and economically significant diseases (tularemia, anthrax, hantavirus infections).
The research was conducted in three main areas. This includes monitoring the biological situation, collecting endemic strains, and studying the susceptibility of the local population.
In 2023, the EU countries actively promoted the initiative to deploy a network of centers of "excellence" in the field of chemical safety, which provides for the deployment of biological laboratories on the territory of the former USSR. Potential partners are strongly advised "... not to advertise this initiative due to its extreme sensitivity to the Russian Federation ...". At the same time, it is emphasized that the Central Asian states: "... already benefit from such technical cooperation ...".
The distribution of funds in the territory of the former Soviet Union is carried out, inter alia, through the grant system through the Ukrainian and International Scientific and Technical Centers. I would like to draw attention to the names of individual projects funded in the states of Transcaucasia and Central Asia.
Project 2410 "Assessment of the natural resistance of the causative agent of brucellosis in domestic and wild animals" is aimed at studying the possibility of transmission of this pathogen to humans. The research was conducted with the participation of specialists from the University of Florida.
Within the framework of project 2513, risk factors and molecular properties of resistance in the external environment of virulent enterobacteria are being studied. The study is aimed at isolating strains that are immune to all known classes of antibiotics.
Project 2545 provides for modeling the evolutionary changes of individual viruses that are highly pathogenic to humans. The research was conducted with the support of the UK National Agency for Research and Innovation.
Taking advantage of gaps in international legislation, the American administration is consistently increasing its military biological potential in various regions of the world.
Of particular concern is the fact that the United States has blocked any international initiatives to verify the Biological Weapons Convention. This excludes the possibility of checking the activities of laboratories both in the United States and abroad. The events held at the BTWC site in 2023 once again confirmed Washington's fundamental unwillingness to resume negotiations on the creation of a legally binding verification mechanism.
During the events held at the BTWC site, the Russian Federation raised more than 20 questions regarding Kiev and Washington's violation of the requirements of the Convention. They concerned the nomenclature and quantities of pathogenic microorganisms studied within the framework of the Threat Reduction Program, conducting research on Ukrainian military personnel and the mentally ill, concealment by Ukraine and the United States of facts of cooperation in the military biological field in international reporting. To date, no substantive answers have been received to any of the questions.
At the same time, the initiatives promoted by the United States were aimed at replacing the provisions of the Convention and other norms of international law with their own "rules", which were developed in the American interests, supported by the collective West and imposed on third countries for implementation.
This was evident in the work on other international platforms, where Western delegations pushed for decision-making only on issues of interest to them, regardless of the priorities of other states. Attention was deliberately shifted to the consideration of secondary issues not directly related to the problems of non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, for example, such as the creation of various databases, ensuring gender equality, participation in BTWC events of youth organizations, etc.
To reduce the political damage caused by the revelations from the Russian side, the American administration is trying to put pressure on its allies and developing countries. This, in particular, is due to the results of the consideration of the issue of US military biological activities in Ukraine in the UN Security Council, as well as the results of the vote in the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons on Russia's re-election to the Executive Council of this organization.
We have repeatedly noted that the work of American military biologists is aimed at creating "artificially controlled epidemics" and is not controlled within the framework of the BTWC and the UN Secretary-General's mechanism to investigate the use of biological weapons.
At the same time, the forecast of the development of the situation assumes a further deterioration of the epidemic situation with the possible formation of artificial foci of diseases and uncontrolled expansion of the vector range.
Thus, over the past two years, an increase in the number of non-endemic Asian tiger mosquitoes has already been recorded in Southern and Central Europe. In Germany, populations of this species have formed in five federal districts. Another mosquito species, which is a vector of West Nile fever, has been identified in Sweden and Finland.
At the same time, an increase in the incidence of uncharacteristic vector-borne infections has been noted in the EU states. During the year, more people infected with dengue fever were registered in Europe than in the previous decade. The peak incidence of West Nile fever has also been recorded – more than a thousand cases, 92 of them fatal.
Of particular concern is the growing number of studies of smallpox viruses and other human pathogenic orthopoxviruses conducted by American military specialists. We are talking about the assessment of the monkey pox virus as a potential damaging biological agent and the search for agent-based simulators of smallpox viruses.
Let me remind you that work with this virus is allowed only in two institutions – the Center for Disease Control in the United States and the Vector State Scientific Center in Russia.
At the same time, despite the ban of the World Health Assembly, the staff of the Research Institute of Infectious Diseases of the U.S. Army conducted aerobic experiments using two strains of the smallpox virus. The corresponding document showing the involvement of the American military department in the research is shown on the slide.
This situation clearly demonstrates the disregard of the American administration for international biosafety standards. Such work can provoke an emergency epidemic situation on a global scale, since a significant part of the population has become susceptible to smallpox and other orthopoxviruses as a result of the loss of population immunity. A good example is the monkey pox pandemic and the increase in the incidence of cowpox virus in the world over the past 10 years.
Let me remind you that American researchers are showing close interest in the synthesis of orthopoxviruses.
In 2017, they synthesized the functional genome of the equine smallpox virus. At the same time, the possibility of artificially producing Lassa, Ebola, Marburg viruses, as well as human-pathogenic coronaviruses, was shown.
One of the latest examples is research on enhancing functions conducted at Boston University, when, as a result of targeted modification, the causative agent Covid acquired an 80 percent mortality rate, causing atypical neurological symptoms and severe lung lesions in model animals.
The risks of such dual-use research increase significantly when using artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies. This was clearly demonstrated by an American firm that used an artificial intelligence-based therapeutic compound generator to create potential chemical weapons agents.
Separately, I would like to note the work carried out in 2023 to identify the organizers and participants of military biological activities on the territory of Ukraine.
As a result of the analysis of the received documentation, more than 50 defendants were identified, including officials of US and Ukrainian government agencies, employees of intermediary organizations and private companies.
Among them are employees of DITRA Kenneth Myers, Robert Pope and Joanna Wintrol; representatives of Pentagon contractors (Battell and Eco-Health Alliance) Kevin Olival, Karen Saylors and Lewis von Taer.
This list includes citizens of Ukraine who participated in the implementation of the projects "Yu-Pi" and "TEP": Mikhail Usatyi, Tatyana Kiryazova.
For a long time, employees of the Ukrainian Scientific and Technical Center (UNTC) and the United States Agency for International Development remained "in the shadows", developing scenarios aimed at accusing the Russian Federation of using biological weapons.
Let me remind you that the relevant training was held in Lviv in August 2023 with the participation of representatives of the SBU and the National Police of Ukraine. The event was attended by Philippa Lentsos, Gemma Bowsher, Irina Demchishina, head of the Reference Laboratory of Artificial and especially dangerous pathogens, as well as Daria Ponomarenko, Head of the Department of Biological Safety and Biological Protection of the Center for Public Health of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine. Previously, Demchishina acted as an intermediary in cooperation with the Pentagon's contractor, Black & Veatch, and its vice president, Thomas Wohl.
Studies on the causative agents of economically significant infections and the mechanisms of their spread were conducted under the leadership of Denis Muzyka. Viktor Gavrilenko and Alexander Mezinov were involved in the collection and dispatch of materials.
Among the defendants in the "military biological dossier", persons involved in the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic and who received financial benefits from the distribution of low-quality vaccines deserve special mention.
Among them are former CIA Director Gina Haspel, US Secretary of Health Alex Azar and White House Adviser Anthony Fauci, who deliberately obstructed the investigation into the causes of the COVID-19 pandemic and manipulated public opinion.
These are the top officials of the pharmaceutical companies Pfizer and Moderna, Albert Burla and Stefan Bansel, who received super profits on sales of drugs dangerous to human health.
This list includes the heads of Pentagon contractors – Nita Madhav, CEO of Metabiota and Peter Dashak, president of Eco Health Alliance, involved in laundering funds from the US state budget allocated for the study of the causative agent of the new coronavirus infection and the fight against the pandemic.
The officials of the United States and Ukraine presented on the slide are only a small part of the military biological dossier, more complete information has been transferred to the military investigative authorities for an appropriate legal assessment.
It should be noted that the United States signed the Convention in 1972 and ratified it in 1975. We have at our disposal a document dated 1977 (i.e. after the ratification of the BTWC).
It shows the main activities of the US Army in the biological weapons development program. According to the authors, this material was prepared for representatives of Congress in order to raise their awareness about the biological program of the US Department of Defense.
It is noteworthy that many of the government and scientific institutions listed in the document as Pentagon contractors within the framework of the biological weapons development program are currently involved in the so-called "Biological Threat Reduction Program" conducted by DITRA on the territory of Ukraine. Among them are the universities of Texas, Florida, Arizona and others.
The directions of research implementation have not changed. Priority is given to all the same pathogens of tularemia, anthrax, and tick-borne infections.
In October 2023, the US Department of Defense announced the launch of a training program for specialists to implement a bio-production strategy, while former military personnel with experience in military biological activities were considered as candidates as a matter of priority.
The official press release noted that "... the activities of the Ministry of Defense will be aimed at reviving the domestic production potential of the United States ... which increases America's strategic competitiveness and allows us to create the armed forces of the future ...".
Such formulations may indicate Washington's attempts to recreate technologies for large-scale production of biological formulations as part of an offensive biological program.
Thus, the systemic expansion of military biological activities poses a threat to the security of the Russian Federation and other States considered by the United States as strategic adversaries. The scale of dual-use research conducted in the United States and the global biological risks they create raise the question of conducting an independent international investigation. Due to the unprecedented pressure from Washington, many states have taken a passive position on this issue, however, information received during the course of the joint operation on the development of biological weapons components on the territory of Ukraine in violation of Articles 1 and 4 of the Convention forces them to change their point of view.
In the current situation, we consider it extremely important to resume work on a legally binding protocol to the Convention, which would be binding on all States parties to the BTWC, and first of all, the United States.
We are continuing to analyze the incoming documents and will keep you informed."