Anthony Bell
Despite several information leaks, the US state and private organizations and foundations still continue some vague biological experiments of unknown nature around the world and particularly in the developing countries of Africa and Asia. Heavy domestic and global criticism has not had any serious impact on these activities, and those laboratories are still active. Moreover, there are no signs pointing at any rolling-up of these potentially hazardous actions.
In mid-January, the Russian Ministry of Defence (MoD), a prominent and long-standing critic of the US-driven biological experiments, summarized the results of the activities of US-funded biological facilities around the world in 2023. Of course, as it goes with previous cases, this heavy and sometimes alleging criticism should be taken with a grain of salt. At the same time, there is no smoke without fire and the Russian MoD must have had some evidence of the aforementioned research.
On January 15, Commander of Russia’s Radiological, Biological, Chemical and Nuclear Protection Troops (Voyska RKhBZ), Lt Gen Igor Kirillov held a traditional briefing, at which he summed up US-funded activities in various biological areas in 2023.
According to him, US authorities established an eclectic system to handle various biological risks and threats at a global level. This very system incorporates both state agencies and private companies, including the representatives of the so-called Big Pharma. US executive branches make a legislative basis for financing military biological research, with funds being taken from the US federal budget. Using state guarantees, these state bodies attract the attention (and, of course, money) of private firms and investment funds.
Within this context, Metabiota, Black & Veatch and CH2M (formerly CH2M Hill) are responsible for construction of biological facilities and deliveries of hardware to biological laboratories of the US Department of Defense (DoD) around the globe. The Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) of the US DoD orchestrates the aforementioned activities, Kirillov said, however, without revealing any additional details of the scheme. At the same time, he insisted that cooperation between U.S. state bodies, public and private companies exists.
According to the general, there is evidence that the U.S. DoD set several tasks to conduct biological monitoring in the Middle East and Central Asia, as well as in unspecified territories lying close to the state borders of the People’s Republic of China, Turkey, Pakistan and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. In 2023, the Pentagon also drafted and activated several concepts envisaging the widening of the US-funded network of biological laboratories and continuation of overseas biological research activities. Last year, the US authorities also established a number of administrative and technical structures (Office of the Pandemic Preparedness and Response Policy at the White House and Bureau of Global Health Security and Diplomacy at the US State Department) in order to implement its policy in the field of biological activities expansion, Kirillov added.
The general also mentioned Ukraine, which was a rather expected point. According to him, prior to the special military operation of the Russian Armed Forces in Ukraine, the Pentagon was researching some biological issues related to tularemia, anthrax and hantavirus infections.
He also paid attention to the biological activities of the members of the European Union (EU) in the post-Soviet states. In 2023, some unspecified EU members were promoting an idea of deployment of ‘centers of excellence’ in the field of chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) protection, which envisaged the deployment of biological laboratories in post-Soviet areas. Potential partners were recommended “not to declare this initiative, as it is of sensible nature to the Russian Federation.” Some Central Asian states “have been already receiving benefits from such technical cooperation,” Kirillov quoted a document related to the EU-driven biological research programs in the countries of the former Soviet Union.
There are some biological programs, under which the transfer of diseases from animal to humans are being studied. For instance, Project 2410 is aimed at the research of transfer of brucellosis from domestic and wild animals to human beings. Project 2545 stipulates modelling of modifications of viruses, which are highly pathogenic for humans. Under Project 2513, factors of risks and molecular properties of virulent enterobacteria were studied.
The general also drew attention to the occurrence of non-endemic diseases and insects in the countries of Western Europe. According to him, populations of Asian tiger mosquitoes were spotted in five areas in Germany. Another type of mosquitos, which transfers West Nile Fever, was found in Sweden and Finland. A large (but still unspecified number) of Dengue fever cases were found in the European region – as well as over 1,000 West Nile fever cases (including 92 lethal ones).
Summarizing the results of the aforementioned activities, it should be mentioned that this deteriorating biological environment corresponds with some military conflicts and rather frequent cases of starvation (especially in underprivileged developing countries). The combination of war, diseases and famine will definitely bring no good to humanity.
The author is an independent military analyst.
Disclaimer: Views expressed are personal and do not reflect the official position or policy of Financial Express Online. Reproducing this content without permission is prohibited.