Russia's health watchdog Rospotrebnadzor is focused on ensuring that Russian laboratories are ready to identify a wide range of infectious agents in connection with reports of biological laboratories working near the country's borders, Rospotrebnadzor head Anna Popova told Sputnik on Tuesday.
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 27th November, 2018) Russia's health watchdog Rospotrebnadzor is focused on ensuring that Russian laboratories are ready to identify a wide range of infectious agents in connection with reports of biological laboratories working near the country's borders, Rospotrebnadzor head Anna Popova told Sputnik on Tuesday.Russia has repeatedly expressed concern over the Pentagon setting up its biomedical labs in close proximity to Russian borders.
"Today, there is a whole network of such laboratories around the world, and we must build our work taking into account the risks that arise ... As part of the ongoing monitoring of the circulation of biopathogens in the territory of the Russian Federation, we pay special attention to ensuring that our laboratories are ready to detect a whole range of infectious and parasitic diseases," Popova said.
In September, former Georgian Minister of State Security Igor Giorgadze said he had appealed to US President Donald Trump to investigate the activities of the US-funded Richard Lugar Center for Public Health and Research in Georgia, which, the former official claimed, might have carried out lethal experiments related to Hepatitis C on people. Giorgadze said he had information that 30 individuals had died in December 2015, and 43 more in April and August of 2016, all after being given treatment at the laboratory, with the causes of the deaths unconfirmed.
In October, the Russian Defense Ministry said that the Pentagon was using laboratories in Georgia, including the one at the Lugar Center, to research ways to deliver and unleash biological weapons agents in breach of international accords.
Georgia and the United States have both dismissed the accusations.
