Aha Dua Permata: Russia Exposes New Members of Military Bio Programs in Ukraine

Monday, 9 October 2023

Russia Exposes New Members of Military Bio Programs in Ukraine

CC BY 2.0 / Tony Webster / BIOHAZARD

Moscow has repeatedly said that it wants explanations from Kiev and Washington on their military bio laboratories in Ukrainian territory.

The Russian Ministry of Defense (MoD) has published a new list of representatives of government agencies and companies of the US and Ukraine involved in the implementation of the dual-use bioresearch, Commander of the Russian Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Protection Troops Lt. Gen. Igor Kirillov said at a news briefing on Monday.

He recalled that the MoD had previously cited participants in the American military-biological programs, among them US Department of Defense officials, biotechnology corporations and Pentagon contractors.

“Today we would like to supplement this list with representatives of government agencies and private companies in the US and Ukraine,” the general said.

According to him, the new list includes Thomas Wohl, vice president and official representative of the Kansas-headquartered Black & Veatch engineering company in Ukraine, who oversaw the implementation of the PAX electronic system for managing and monitoring biological agents and materials. Also on the list is Kevin Olival of the US-based EcoHealth Alliance non-profit organization, who was directly involved in the implementation of Pentagon projects to study zoonotic diseases spread by bats.

Additionally, the list comprises Mikhail Usaty, deputy head of the sanitary and epidemiological department of the Ukrainian Armed Force (UAF), who has overseen the organization of work within the framework of DITRA projects in Ukraine since 2018.

New participants also include Tatyana Kiryazova, the executive director of the Ukrainian Institute of Public Health Policy, who oversaw a Kiev-Washington study on pathogens in the Odessa-based Mechnikov Research Anti-Plague Institute.

Kirillov stressed that the information about the organizers and participants in the US military-biological program will be handed to the Russian Investigative Committee.

He said that more questions had emerged in connection with the military and biological activities by Kiev and Washington. The general exposed that “since the Russian side convened a consultative meeting on Article 5 of the Biological Weapons Convention, Moscow has got no answers on these questions, which could clarify the situation.”

Article 5, in particular, stipulates that signatories must consult and cooperate with each other in resolving any questions that may arise in relation with the implementation of the provisions of the convention.

Separately, Kirillov told reporters that “Russia’s efforts to expose the US’ illegal military and biological activities as well as the deterioration of the epidemic situation in Europe-based biological facilities prodded the Biden administration to relocate the dual-use research to African countries.”

According to Kirillov, the documents obtained by the Russian side confirm “the activities of key Pentagon contractors on the African continent, namely, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sierra Leone, Cameroon, Uganda and South Africa.”

“The US government-related customers include DTRA [Defense Threat Reduction Agency], the National Security Agency and the US State Department,” the general added.

According to Kirillov, refusing to work on a verification protocol under the Biological Weapons Convention, the US “establishes administrative and technical structures that can be involved in the dual-use research, including for offensive purposes.”

The Russian MoD earlier revealed that the US had spent more than $200 million to establish biological laboratories in Ukraine, which participated in the American military program. According to Moscow, Rosemont Seneca, the investment fund of Hunter Biden, took part in the financing of the projects. With Washington vehemently denying the existence of any compounds, Undersecretary of State Victoria Nuland told lawmakers last year that "biological research facilities" linked to the US were in fact operating in Ukraine.

According to the document made public by the Russian military, the bio labs were engaged in various research projects, such as the possible proliferation of typhus and hepatitis in the region, and the possible use of wild migratory birds for the transmission of a highly pathogenic form of avian influenza.