April 8, 2023
The Ministry of Defence (MoD) of the Russian Federation continues to analyze the military biological activities of the USA and its allies in Ukraine and elsewhere in the world.
New actors
On April 7 the MoD named more persons related to the Pentagon biological research establishments. They include:
Eliot Jacobs Pearlman, the head of International HIV/AIDS and TB Institute (NGO), Kiev, he was directly involved in the establishment of the laboratory facilities for the implementation of military biological research in Ukraine. Gregory Glass, a professor emeritus at the Emerging Pathogens Institute, Florida State University. He was involved in studing the tularaemia pathogen in Ukraine. He was involved in the UP-8 project (Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever virus and hantavirus dissemination in Ukraine). Andrew Pekosz, an American microbiologist and Professor of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. He was involved as one of the lead consultants for the UP-2 Project (Application of geo-information systems, remote surveillance and laboratory diagnosis for the detection of tularaemia and anthrax in humans and animals in Ukraine).
Ukrainian nationals are among the perpetrators of US military-biological projects:
Natalia Rodina is the deputy director general of the Kiev Regional Laboratory Centre of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine and a former employee of the U.S. company Black & Veatch. Since 2020, she has been advisor to the Commander of the AFU Medical Forces on laboratory and diagnostic activities. Yelena Nesterova is the Director of the Ukrainian Institute for Public Health Research She coordinated the activities of Labyrinth Global Health and liaised between Ukrainian government agencies and Metabiota.
Fleeing from responsibility for their involvement in bioweapons projects, many of the individuals involved left Ukraine.
In order to stop any leaks, the U.S. administration is taking immediate action to locate and retrieve material on the Pentagon's illegal activities. Through the Science and Technology Center in Ukraine (STCU), work is carried out on two fronts: collecting data on the location of staff already experienced in so-called 'Ukrainian projects' and searching for new specialists in the field of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) development.
Dual-use research expertise.
The questionnaire sent to STCU online users who are enrolled in special courses proves that the requirements for participation in them entail dual-use research expertise. From 24-26 April 2023, online training will take place with the selected candidates, and a in-person meeting in Warsaw is planned in parallel. During the training, participants will be invited to continue working on closed projects in and outside Ukrainian territory. Under the cover of such courses, efforts may be made to plan biological weapons provocations and to start an information campaign against the Russian Federation.
The U.S. Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DITRA) is using the capabilities of biologists not only from Ukraine, but also from the Central Asian and Transcaucasian states to carry out its tasks. The US administration has work in this area scheduled to last at least until 2025.
Funding for dual-use projects is provided by the U.S. military through a grant system. The International Science and Technology Centre and STCU are in charge of allocating the funds. The organization is headed by Ronald Frank Lehman, former head of the U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency.
There are the names of individual ISTC projects without indicating their territorial affiliation: Project 2410 'Assessment of the natural resistance of the brucellosis pathogen in domestic and wild animals (possibility of brucellosis transmission to humans)'. A remarkable fact about the research is that experts from the University of Florida participated in it. Project 2513 investigates the risk factors and molecular properties of environmentally resistant virulent Enterobacteriaceae. The objective of the study is to identify microorganism strains that are resistant to every known type of antibiotic. Project 2545 involves simulating the evolution of a few bunyavirus species that are extremely dangerous to people. The UK Research and Innovation is supporting the research on fusing genetic material from harmful viruses.
The US, its Armed Forces, and allies are to be protected by the ISTC's biological threat reduction program. This once again confirms that Washington sees the post-Soviet space as a foothold for the deployment of NATO military units. In the case of Ukraine, It is seen how imposed by the collective West funding of military-biological programs leads to the loss of national biological sovereignty and the undermining of scientific and technological potential in the field of biological, food, and pharmaceutical security.
Pharmaceutical companies involvement
The Russian MoD has previously reported on 'directed evolution' research by U.S. pharmaceutical companies, the so-called Big Pharma, as well as corruption and collusion with U.S. government agencies related to the development and production of vaccine drugs. They include former employees of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Food and Drug Administration: Mark McClellan, current Johnson & Johnson board member; Scott Gottlieb, Pfizer board member; Stephen Hahn, chief medical officer of Flagship Pioneering, a company directly linked to Moderna.
E.g., at the time when Pfizer has developed and approved its anti-COVID-19 vaccine it was found an increased risk of serious cardiovascular abnormalities following vaccination. According to the company's confidential assessment, patients who received the COVID-19 vaccine are more likely to suffer myocarditis.
Since April 2021, Moderna has reported an increase in cases of myocarditis and pericarditis in the United States following vaccination with mRNA vaccines, especially in male adolescents and young adults over 16 years old. Pathological changes usually occurred within a few days of vaccination, and more often occurred after a second dose....
The Russian MoD has already noted contradictory statements by U.S. political elites about the cessation of Pentagon work in biolaboratories in Ukraine. Take note of the minutes from the 20 October 2022 meeting of a working group of U.S. and Ukrainian specialists on ideas for a Biological Threat Reduction Plan in Ukraine, chaired by DITRA officials. According to the document, despite a forced pause due to the special military operation, activities under the Program have now resumed. The main objectives at this stage are to continue the construction of biolaboratories in Ukraine and to expand the format of training for Ukrainian biologists.
Renaming for the sake of concealment
The Russian MoD revelations about the Pentagon's bioweapons activities have forced Washington to make efforts to conceal the true nature of the work being done. Thus, it was decided to change the name of the Joint Biological Research program, which is actually aimed at developing biological weapons components. The program has been renamed Biosurveillance Research, as indicated in the minutes. According to the document, the military department intends to continue research on dangerous pathogens, collect biological material, and send it to the United States.
The Pentagon's plans to continue dual-use research on Ukrainian biomaterial and elsewhere in the world, with a change of program name, are the result of an 'unclear' response from the international community due to the fear of a number of countries to go into confrontation with the U.S. authorities.
The US Department of State has produced a series of publications in which it attempts to cast doubt on the documented facts of its illegal biological research. On 14 March 2023, for example, a special bulletin was published on the U.S. State Department website seeking this aim. The pro-government U.S. media, including the Washington Post, have released State Department statements that flatly deny the established historical facts of the preparation of military-biological attacks in North Korea and China in the early 1950s while ignoring the information provided by the Russian MoD in an effort to deflect the backlash from the Democratic Party.
It should be noted that the U.S. has never been explicit about how dedicated it is to ensuring research safety in the biolaboratories it oversees. The lack of transparency of their activities creates a risk of the spread of dangerous pathogens in areas where biocontainment facilities are located.
In a related event, a South Korean civil society organization filed a lawsuit against the U.S. military in South Korea and the Fort Detrick Biological Laboratory in August 2021 for breaking domestic law by smuggling harmful materials into American military locations. The U.S. command in the Republic of Korea was accused of smuggling dangerous materials into its military locations (in Pyeongchang and Gunsan) between November 2017 and January 2019. On 5 April 2022, South Koreans flooded the streets to protest against U.S. biological laboratories near their military base in Busan.
Earlier, mass demonstrations against U.S. biolaboratories took place in Armenia, Kyrgyzstan, and Serbia.
In late February 2023, the International Secretary of the Irish Labour Party, Gary Granger, speaking at a conference on 'Strengthening the threat of the use of biological weapons by NATO against the background of aggravation of international contradictions', said that the threat of such weapons of mass destruction was growing every day. Granger mentioned that 'Ukraine has U.S.-funded biological laboratories. This could lead to millions of casualties, including the risk of accidents'.
Moving the most dangerous research outside national territory is part of the United States' biosecurity strategy. The placement of bio-objects in third countries does not take into account the interests of local populations and poses a serious threat to entire regions.
Department of Energy role
The U.S. Department of Energy is seen by the Russian MoD as being on par with the Pentagon in terms of being the primary planner and direct participant in military bioweapons efforts. In 2023 alone, the Department of Energy officially allocated $105 mln for research as part of the Biopreparedness Research Virtual Environment project, which intends to study the epidemic spread of disease.
Specialists still have a number of questions about the strange variability and geographical origins of COVID-19 variants for most viruses. For example, the beta strain first appeared in South Africa and was detected in the UK in December 2020; the gamma strain in Brazil in January 2021 and the delta strain in India in June 2021. At the same time, each new version had improved properties in terms of their military-biological applications, causing increasing economic damage. The U.S. Department of Energy 'dual-use biology' activities will be discussed in more detail in the future.
In addition, reports indicate that United States leadership continues to involve non- government agencies not directly related to public health in biomedical programs, diverting attention away from their primary beneficiary, the Pentagon.
Written by Vladimir P. Kozin
