US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland on Tuesday said Ukraine has biological research facilities adding that Washington is working with Ukraine to prevent the facilities from falling into the hands of Russian forces.

“Ukraine has biological research facilities which in fact we are quite concerned Russian troops, Russian forces, may be seeking to gain control of, so we are working with the Ukrainians on how they can prevent any of those research materials from falling into the hands of Russian forces should they approach,” Nuland said.

Following the response, US Senator Marco Rubio quickly added that there were ‘Russian propaganda’ reports claiming the discovery of a plot by Ukrainians to release biological weapons, with coordination from NATO. He further asked that if a biological or chemical weapon attack were to occur inside Ukraine, whether Russians would be behind it, to which Nuland affirmed saying, “There is no doubt in my mind, Senator.” She said that it is the classic Russian technique to blame the other guy for what they are planning to do themselves.

The US government’s Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs testified before a Senate Foreign Relation Committee hearing on Ukraine in Washington, DC. The committee was set to examine Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the worldwide response.

Recently, the Russian Defence Ministry had stated that they had found evidence of US-funded Biolabs in Ukraine which had urgently destroyed samples of deadly pathogens when the ‘military operation’ started. Kiev has denied developing bioweapons.

Whereas on Tuesday the Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson urged “the US relevant details as soon as possible” regarding alleged US biological laboratories in Ukraine.

“According to the data released by the US, it has 26 biological laboratories and other related facilities in Ukraine which has indeed attracted great attention,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said at a news conference in Beijing.

He added, “The US Department of Defense controls 336 biological laboratories in 30 countries around the world under the names of ‘cooperating to reduce biosecurity risks and strengthening global public health,’” Zhao added.

Image source: The Citizen