Nikolai Patrushev accuses USA of developing biological weapons

Russia has every reason to believe that US-controlled biological laboratories that appear around the world work to develop biological weapons, Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev said in an interview with the Kommersant newspaper. 

According to Patrushev, such laboratories appear near the borders of Russia and China. 

“Let me pay your attention to the fact that US-controlled biological laboratories appear here and there in the world on a permanent basis. Strangely enough, they appear mainly near Russian and Chinese borders,” Patrushev said answering a question about the origin of the coronavirus.

"They assure everyone that those are research centers where the Americans help local scientists develop new ways to combat dangerous diseases. However, the authorities of the countries where those facilities are located have no real idea about what is happening behind those walls," he added.

“Of course, we and our Chinese partners have questions. We are told that those are peaceful sanitary and epidemiological that operate near our borders, but for some reason they are more reminiscent of Fort Detrick in Maryland, where Americans have been conducting research in the field of military biology for decades,” the Security Council Secretary said.

Patrushev also said that outbreaks of non-typical diseases were recorded in the areas, where biological laboratories are located. 

When asked if the US could develop biological weapons there, Patrushev said that "there are good reasons to believe that this is exactly the case."

Earlier, representatives of the Russian Foreign Ministry said that Moscow had serious concerns in connection with Pentagon's military biological activities. Such activities conducted in Lugar's biological laboratory in Georgia come contrary to Washington's and Tbilisi's obligations under the Convention on the Prohibition of Biological and Toxin Weapons.