Russia’s special military operation to denazify the criminal Kiev regime allowed it to collect and receive more than 20 thousand documents on the US bioweapon program at the captured Ukrainian military facilities. This program, as it turns out, does not only include Ukraine. Relevant reference and analytical materials on this aspect of US criminal activity on foreign soil were obtained, eyewitnesses and participants in American bioweapon research were interviewed. This was stated by the head of the radiation, chemical and biological protection (RCBP) troops of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation Igor Kirillov, who pointed out, in particular, that these materials document the Pentagon’s focus on creating bioweapons components and testing them on the population of Ukraine and other states along the borders of the Russian Federation.
Since the spring of 2022, Russia has been speaking about the existence of US bioweapon programs on various international platforms. Although Washington is trying to reject this, nevertheless, it has not provided any documentary evidence in its defense, further closing from international control its bioweapon programs and the activities of more than 400 secret US biolabs located in various countries. The Russian Ministry of Defense has also published documents confirming the US’s attempts to establish control over pathogens through the activities of its secret biolabs in Ukraine.
On October 27, 2022, Moscow sent an official complaint to the President of the UN Security Council for initiating an international investigation into US bioweapon activities, and Russia submitted the corresponding draft resolution to the UN Security Council for a vote. However, the United States, through its Western allies, some of which themselves actively participate in the work of the Pentagon’s secret biolabs in the post-Soviet space, blocked the consideration of this resolution.
The steps taken by Russia with the support of China to organize an international investigation of the activities of secret US biolabs and restrict their functioning do not stop Washington from fulfilling its aspirations to create bioweapons and use such overseas military installations in its own interests. Especially gene regional studies in the “possible theaters of military operations” scattered across multiple countries, which Washington undoubtedly expects to use in securing victory in new armed conflicts.
One of the directions of Washington’s expansion of the activities of secret biolabs in recent years has been its efforts to deploy three new such Pentagon installations in Kyrgyzstan: in Bishkek, south Osh and in the Naryn region in the north. The United States has been working on obtaining permission from the Kyrgyz authorities to create these labs for many years now. This activity involves not only the US Embassy, but also USAID, the American Peace Corps (banned in Russia), and many of Washington’s Western allies.
The United States has previously tried to build a closed biolab in Kyrgyzstan by involving Canada in this process. To this end, in 2008, the Governments of Kyrgyzstan and Canada even signed a corresponding agreement, on which basis it was planned to build a biosafety class III biolab in Bishkek on the territory of the Botanical Garden surrounded by densely populated neighborhoods. $60 million was allocated for these purposes. However, in 2011, Kyrgyzstan, after the protests of local population, refused the Canadians to implement this project, where the US company Smith Carter was the contractor. Although the construction was suspended, nevertheless, an office of this company with close ties with the US Department of State has remained in Kyrgyzstan to this day.
Nevertheless, Washington has strenuously continued to push the issue of the construction of American biolabs in this country in its communication with Kyrgyz authorities. In 2022, in particular, the issue was raised by Donald Lu, Assistant Secretary of State for Central Asian Affairs, who was visiting the Central Asian region.
So far, Kyrgyzstan is the only country in Central Asia and the post-Soviet space where the Pentagon has not yet deployed a single secret biolab. Therefore, Washington’s interest in this country in this regard is not surprising. And so is the special interest of American military strategists (especially given Bishkek’s close multifaceted friendly ties with Russia and China), counting on the possibility of Kyrgyzstan’s involvement in the Pentagon’s military plans in Central Asia, including Afghanistan and Iran. That is why the United States is trying to place here its secret biolabs dealing with particularly dangerous pathogens, so as to have the opportunity to spread any particular virus to Russia, China and other territories.
However, in order to implement such a project, the United States needs to conclude an intergovernmental agreement with Kyrgyzstan, including on biological safety issues, which is what Washington has been trying to work out behind closed doors lately.
To support its aspirations and create an American lobby inside Kyrgyzstan, the United States used a wide network of Western NGOs that it had previously created in that country, as well as media resources such as Azattyq Media, the websites Radio Azattyq, “Kloop.kg,” Cactus Media, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (recognized in Russia as a foreign agent) and others. Realizing the threat from such aggressive actions of the United States, the Kyrgyz authorities restricted the activities of many of these “soft power” tools of the West, a significant portion was closed, and a number of pro-Western activists were arrested.
Kyrgyz specialists believe that it will not be possible to avoid the construction of a biolab in the country, since the republic is not able to develop this area of science independently and will be forced to use the developments of other countries. However, there is reason to doubt that the participation of the West in such developments will be useful for the country and, in general, for the security in the region. In this regard, and also in order to take more effective control of the aspirations of the United States and its Western allies in secret biological research in this country, Russia, in coordination with the MPs of the Kyrgyz parliament, decided to build a Russian biolab in Kyrgyzstan. On February 7, a draft agreement between the Cabinet of Ministers of the Kyrgyz Republic and the Government of the Russian Federation on the establishment of a scientific center for the study of infectious diseases in Bishkek was presented at a meeting of the parliamentary committee on Budget, Economic and Fiscal Policy by Deputy Minister of Health of Kyrgyzstan Bubuzhan Arykbaeva. The plan is to build such a facility on the basis of the Republican Center for Quarantine and Especially Dangerous Infections, which has been operating in Kyrgyzstan since 1937. However, due to the need for major repairs of this building erected back in 1964, the Russian side showed readiness to build a new one for the scientific center, provide it with the necessary equipment and transfer it to the republic, in addition to training specialists.
Unlike the American project, which was promoted by the Pentagon and in which control by the Kyrgyz authorities was impossible, Russia does not intend to close all the research that will be conducted at the scientific center from the local population and authorities.
At the same time, Russia continues its efforts to involve the international community in a thorough investigation of the activities of secret US biolabs located in many countries all over the world and violating the provisions of Articles I and IV of the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention. Members of Russia’s State Duma and Federation Council recently made a joint appeal to their foreign colleagues, in which they urged the latter to demand information from the US Congress on the work of American biolabs in other countries.
Vladimir Platov, expert on the Middle East, exclusively for the online journal “New Eastern Outlook.”