Russia calls for verification mechanism on US-funded biolabs in Ukraine

MOSCOW - Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Tuesday stressed the importance of establishing a verification mechanism as US-funded biological laboratories in Ukraine have caused concern.

The issue of US-funded biological laboratories in Ukraine must be addressed within the framework of the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention, Lavrov said during a briefing.

Moscow plans to redouble its efforts to ensure that the United States stops blocking Russia's proposal made 20 years ago on the creation of a verification mechanism under the convention on biological agents that could be used to make bioweapons, he said.

In addition to over 30 biolabs in Ukraine, the United States has created "hundreds of such laboratories" in other countries, he noted.

"I believe that the international community will soon be convinced that such inadmissible activities are fraught with deadly risks for a huge number of people," Lavrov said.

On March 8, while testifying before a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on Ukraine, US Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland admitted "Ukraine has biological research facilities."

At a UN Security Council meeting called by Russia to discuss the United States' alleged military biological research in Ukraine on Saturday, US permanent representative to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, said, "Ukraine does not have a biological weapons program. There are no Ukrainian biological weapons laboratories supported by the United States."