There are no biological laboratories in Ukraine associated with the development, production or stockpiling of biological weapons. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine announced this on June 13 in Telegram.
The diplomatic department published such a comment against the background of US National Intelligence materials released on June 12 that “biological laboratories with dangerous pathogens allegedly operated in Ukraine,” in particular, in Kyiv, Lvov, Odessa and other cities.
The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry rejected such accusations and stated that cooperation with the United States in the field of biosecurity is only civilian in nature and concerns public health, laboratory diagnostics and biological defense.
“Ukraine consistently fulfills its international obligations under the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BTWC). The Ukrainian side has never carried out activities related to the development, production or stockpiling of biological weapons,” the diplomatic department said in a statement.
The Foreign Ministry also recalled that the topic of “biological laboratories” in Ukraine is not new and has been used for a long time by the propaganda of the aggressor country, Russia. The department emphasized that all such accusations have been repeatedly refuted at the international level.
In particular, in 2022, at the request of the Russian Federation, within the framework of the Convention on the Prohibition of Biological and Toxin Weapons, official consultations were held with the participation of states parties to the BTWC. During the meeting, the Ukrainian side provided information on cooperation programs in the field of biosafety, and no signs of the development of biological weapons were revealed in Ukraine.
Similar issues were also considered by the UN Security Council, where no evidence was presented to support the relevant accusations.
“Ukraine remains committed to the principles of transparency, international cooperation and strengthening the global biological safety system. We urge you to rely on the results of international consultations and verified facts, and not on distorted interpretations or Russian propaganda,” the Foreign Ministry emphasized.
The US National Intelligence Service published similar materials on June 13, shortly before the resignation of its head Tulsi Gabbard. She has been repeatedly criticized for statements consistent with the propaganda of the aggressor country of the Russian Federation. In particular, she argued that the war in Ukraine could have been avoided if the United States and NATO had taken into account Russia's “legitimate concerns” regarding the expansion of the Alliance. In March 2022, she released a video in which she claimed that there were US-funded laboratories in Ukraine that were developing biological weapons. Republican Senator Mitt Romney then said that Gabbard was “repeating false Russian propaganda,” the NYT wrote.
