Head Of Russian Criminal Probe Says Evidence Is Clear That Pentagon Was Funding Bioweapons Programs in Ukraine

Alexander Bastrykin, the director of Russia’s Investigative Committee, told reporters that his team is advancing in a criminal investigation into Ukraine’s suspected multi-million dollar Pentagon-funded bioweapons program.

“The analysis of the obtained documents allowed us to clearly identify the people involved in the military biological activities in Ukraine, including representatives of the US Department of Defense and American companies with ties to it,” Bastrykin said.

Since at least 2005, the US has surreptitiously spent more than $224 million in Ukraine on biological weapons development initiatives, according to Bastrykin. US money were also used to equip and enhance roughly 30 biolab research institutes run by Ukraine’s defense, health, and agriculture ministries, according to the investigator.

“The results of said research had been evacuated to Kiev-controlled territory before the start of [Russia’s] special military operation,” Bastrykin said, adding that his agency would continue to study the documents on the matter.

In March, Moscow claimed that it had found evidence that the US had been funding biological weapons research in Ukraine. Washington and Kiev denied this claim and accused Russia of waging a propaganda campaign.

Senior US diplomat Victoria Nuland admitted at the time that Washington was working with Ukraine to prevent “research materials” from falling into the hands of Russian troops.

China demands Pentagon come clean

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian, meanwhile, urged the US to “give a full account of its biological military activities at home and abroad and subject itself to multilateral verification.”

Russia attacked the neighboring state in late February, following Ukraine’s failure to implement the terms of the Minsk agreements, first signed in 2014, and Moscow’s eventual recognition of the Donbass republics of Donetsk and Lugansk. The German and French brokered protocols were designed to give the breakaway regions special status within the Ukrainian state.

The Kremlin has since demanded that Ukraine officially declare itself a neutral country that will never join the US-led NATO military bloc. Kiev insists the Russian offensive was completely unprovoked and has denied claims it was planning to retake the two republics by force.