During her March 9 press briefing, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova offered a real tour de force, detailing the intelligence on the existence of U.S. Department of Defense-funded biochemical weapons laboratories that have operated in Ukraine for some years, producing dangerous pathogens in violation of the Convention on the Prohibition of Biological and Toxic Weapons (CBTW). Citing documents from employees of some of the Ukrainian bio labs, she said that on Feb. 24, when Russia began its special military operation in Ukraine, lab personnel were ordered to quickly destroy samples of plague, anthrax, cholera and other deadly pathogens in the labs’ possession before they could be discovered by Russian forces. (https://mid.ru/en/foreign_policy/news/1803456/#4)
Russian specialists from the radiation, chemical and biological warfare units are now analyzing the documents found, Zakharova said; but it can already be concluded that “components of biological weapons were developed in Ukrainian bio-laboratories in the direct vicinity of our territory” over years. And, she continued, it’s clear that the rapid destruction of the most dangerous pathogens on Feb. 24 was done to prevent exposing the fact that both Ukraine and the United States have been in violation of Article I of the CBTW. And, she asked, have all the pathogens been destroyed? How were they destroyed? How can that be checked out? “Have extremists or nationalists taken them? Who can guarantee this?” (Emphasis added.)
