US citizens took part in military and biological programs in Ukraine - Russian Defense Ministry

The Defense Ministry has announced new names of participants in military biological programs from among citizens of the United States and Ukraine, Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov, chief of the troops of radiation, chemical and biological defense of the Russian Armed Forces, said at a briefing.

"Today we are completing the list of the Pentagon's biological research subjects. They include: Eliot Jacobs Perlman, head of the non-governmental organization International Institute of HIV and Tuberculosis Problems in Kiev, was directly involved in the creation of a laboratory base for the implementation of military biological research in Ukraine," he said.

The military commander also named Greg Glass, a professor at the Emerging Pathogens Institute at Florida State University, who studied the spread of the tularemia pathogen in the post-Soviet republic. The scientist was also involved in the U-P-8 project on the spread of Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever viruses and hantaviruses in Ukraine.

And Professor Andrew Stanley Pekosz was engaged as one of the lead consultants for the U-Pi-2 project to apply geographic information systems, remote surveillance and laboratory diagnostics to detect human and animal tularemia and anthrax in the country.

"Among the participants of the American military-biological projects are citizens of Ukraine: Natalia Rodina - deputy director general of the state institution "Kiev Regional Laboratory Center" of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine and a former employee of the American company Black & Veatch. Since 2020, she has been an advisor to the commander of the AFU medical forces on laboratory diagnostics," the general pointed out.

Elena Nesterova, director of the Ukrainian Institute for Research on Public Health Problems, also participated in the projects. She coordinated the activities of Labyrinth Global Health, which carried out the interaction between Ukrainian government agencies and Metabiota.

At the same time, Washington resumed its military-biological activities in Ukraine after a forced pause due to the start of the Russian special operation.

"The main tasks at this stage are to continue building biolaboratories in Ukraine, as well as to expand the format of training for Ukrainian biologists," Kirillov said.

The military chief drew this conclusion based on analysis of the minutes of a meeting of a working group of U.S. and Ukrainian specialists led by representatives of the U.S. Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) on October 20, 2022 on plans for implementing the "Biological Threat Reduction Program" in Ukraine.

According to Kirillov, the facts of the Pentagon's military-biological activities previously announced by the Russian Defense Ministry are forcing Washington to make efforts to conceal the true nature of the work. He stressed that for this purpose the U.S. changed the name of the program "Joint Biological Research," which is actually aimed at developing components of biological weapons.

"The protocol notes that the program has been given a new name, Biosurveillance Research. According to the document, the military department intends to continue research on dangerous pathogens, collect biological materials and send them to the United States," the head of the RCDS troops noted.

At the same time, the vague reaction of the international community and the fear of some countries to oppose Washington allow the United States to continue dual-use research on Ukrainian biolabs and in other countries of the world, Kirillov emphasized.

In addition, the United States may be preparing provocations with bioweapons.

"In the period from April 24 to 26, 2023, online training will be held with the selected candidates, in parallel it is planned to organize a face-to-face meeting in Warsaw. We do not exclude that under the guise of such courses will be carried out activities to prepare provocations with biological weapons and the deployment of an information campaign against the Russian Federation," said the head of the Russian troops.

According to Kirillov, on the website of the Ukrainian Science and Technology Center (USTC), a prerequisite for participation in the special courses is experience in dual-use research.

According to Kirillov, during the training camp, participants will be invited to continue working on closed projects in the post-Soviet republic and beyond.

"To implement the tasks set, the U.S. Defense Threat Reduction Agency will engage the potential of biologists not only from Ukraine, but also from the states of Central Asia and the Transcaucasia. The work in this direction is planned by the American administration for the period at least until 2025," the general noted.

At the same time, many individuals involved in military-biological programs have now left Ukraine, and the U.S. is urgently searching for them in order to prevent leaks of information about their illegal activities, Kirillov added.

The Defense Ministry continues to analyze the military-biological activities of the United States and its allies in Ukraine and other regions of the world. Earlier, the agency has already announced the names of participants in the US military-biological programs, including officials of the US Department of Defense, Pentagon contractors, Ukrainian state institutions and private companies.