РУССКИЙ
13:50 22.06.2026 •
The Russian Federation has repeatedly initiated discussions on implementation of military biological programmes by Ukraine and Western countries in violation of the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BTWC) on major international sites, including the Security Council and the UN General Assembly. You can find previous briefings on this subject on the website of the Ministry of Defence of Russia. Until the last moment, we received only excuses and accusations of disinformation.
At the same time, bringing these illegal activities of the West to the international community has enabled us to change the situation.
For example, in May 2026, Tulsi Gabbard, the director of U.S. National Intelligence, announced that an investigation had been launched into activities related to the financing of 120 foreign biolaboratories by the previous U.S. administration, of which more than 40 were located on Ukrainian territory.
On 12 June, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence issued a press release containing declassified documents confirming that the U.S. authorities deliberately concealed information about biolaboratories in Ukraine and other countries. According to published data, 'many of these U.S. government-funded biolabs are currently or have previously engaged in research using hazardous and highly contagious pathogens, in some cases to include dangerous Gain-of-Function research, with very little visibility or oversight'.
There was further evidence that the biolaboratories in Ukraine had been financed and renovated through United States federal budget funds.
For example, a press release published by the U.S. Director of National Intelligence provides a map of biolaboratories in Ukraine. The documents include objects in Kharkov, Dnepropetrovsk, Lvov, Vinnytsia, Ternopol, Chernigov, Odessa. I emphasize that there was a study of plague agents, anthrax, tularemia, Marburg and Ebola fevers.
The locations previously pointed by the Ministry of Defence and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia for the deployment and research activities of the biolaboratories are now confirmed by the U.S. national intelligence materials. I note that the legal basis for organising these studies was the Agreement Concerning Cooperation in the Area of Prevention of Proliferation of Technology, Pathogens and Expertise That Could Be Used in the Development of Biological Weapons (2005) between the U.S. Department of Defense and the Ministry of Health of Ukraine. The work was coordinated by the U.S. Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA), and research was conducted under conditions of strict secrecy, with limited access by Ukrainian specialists to information and premises.
In the course of the special military operation, we have received additional documents confirming that the focus of the work is not in line with Ukraine's current health problems, the main ones of which are socially significant diseases. The priority was to study the impact of potential agents of biological weapons, as well as the agents of infections aimed at undermining the state's economy.
The U.S. National Intelligence press release provides an extract from the biolab list showing the amount of funding and the details of the contracting organisations.
I would like to refer to the Odessa I. Mechnikov Ukrainian Anti-Plague Research Institute, designated on the map as a 'biological weapons storage' site.
As can be seen from the above document, its renovation is commissioned by the U.S. Department of Defense, and the contractor is Black & Veatch, affiliated with the U.S. military agency.
I would like to remind you that the Institute's activities raised many questions during the consultative meeting of States parties to the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention, convened at the initiative of the Russian Federation. They related to excessive storage volumes of containers storing pathogens of cholera (919), tularemia (338) and brucellosis (290) in the absence of documentary evidence of peaceful uses.
This violation was recorded in the report of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine following the inspection results of the collection of strains in the above-mentioned institution.
The very list of pathogens, which is not in line with Ukraine's current health problems, where there is an increase in the incidence of rubella, diphtheria and tuberculosis, shows attempts to develop components of biological weapons in Ukrainian bio-laboratories.
Another institution to which we referred earlier is the Institute of Experimental and Clinical Veterinary Medicine in Kharkov.
The list of animal infectious diseases studied by the Institute includes severe diseases that can be transmitted to humans and damage the agricultural sector. These include the highly pathogenic avian influenza, as well as the African and classical swine fevers, Newcastle disease with pandemic potential.
The situation with regard to the glanders pathogen raises questions: a separate project to study it has been funded and completed under the American programme of zoonotic infections, despite the fact that the cases of the disease have never been recorded in Ukraine.
I would like to recall the Ukraine code-named U-P, which has an explicit military-biological focus and which were not included in the said press release.
For example, the UP-1 project was aimed at studying Rickettsiae and other diseases spread by arthropods.
A large-scale UP-2 project assessed the mechanisms for transboundary spread and migration of tularemia and anthrax vectors.
We have reports of 10 such projects, which included working with the agents of particularly dangerous and economically significant infections - Crimean–Congo fever, leptospirosis, tick-borne encephalitis, and the African swine fever.
Our repeated statements on the establishment by the United States Democratic Party of a legislative framework for funding military biological research were confirmed in the press release issued by the Director of National Intelligence.
The scheme involves scientific organisations and large pharmaceutical companies, and state guarantees include funds from non-governmental organisations. The main contractors for the United States military were Metabiota, Black & Veatch, and CH2M HILL, which were responsible for the construction of biosites and the supply of equipment.
The allocation of funds was also made through the grant system through the Ukrainian and International science and technology centres.
We consider the documents published to be further evidence of a violation by the Kiev regime of its obligations under the Convention, and we will seek clarification of the situation on the relevant international sites.
Thus, all reports accusing the Russian Federation of spreading disinformation, conducting hybrid operations to mislead international public opinion are totally false.
The Russian Ministry of Defence will continue to analyse the incoming information. We already have a whole layer of highly advanced new materials. Analysis of these materials and examination of the relevant documents are under way.
We'll keep you informed on the results.
Department of Information and Media Affairs of Defence Ministry of the Russian Federation
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