Scott Ritter: US Biolabs in Ukraine Violate Biological Weapons Convention

MELITOPOL, June 22. /TASS/. The US deliberately violated the Biological Weapons Convention by establishing biolaboratories in Ukraine that could have developed offensive weapons, former US Marine Corps intelligence analyst Scott Ritter told TASS.

"We know without a shadow of a doubt that each one of these laboratories is a violation of the Biological Weapons and Toxins Convention. Now, we must ask: what is their true intent? <...> Because some of the documents suggest that some of the research being done wasn't for defensive purposes, but rather for offensive purposes. And the United States has a record of saying: ‘Oh, we're just doing this for defensive purposes.’ But you know, the mechanisms to produce the same biological agent that you say you're defending yourself from is used to produce the biological agent that could be used to attack somebody," he said.

According to the expert, the presence of such weapons in Ukraine increases the risk of provocations involving the leakage and spread of pathogens, which the West will attempt to blame on Russia.

"And now we're saying: ‘Oh, if Russia bombs these things, they'll break the security, reduce the temperature, crack the glass.’ And these could be released into the wild, as if it's Russia's fault that the US facilitated the continued retention of prohibited biological materials by Ukraine," Ritter said.

US biological laboratories

On June 19, Major General Alexey Rtishchev, chief of the Russian Armed Forces' Radiation, Chemical, and Biological Defense Troops, reported that US intelligence materials confirmed that biological laboratories on Ukrainian territory were funded from the US federal budget. These laboratories studied pathogens such as plague, anthrax, tularemia, Marburg fever, and Ebola, all of which can be transmitted to humans and cause severe, pandemic-level diseases.

Earlier, US National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard acknowledged that research involving "dangerous pathogens" in US biolaboratories in other countries poses a potential threat of global catastrophe. Declassified documents state that the US helped establish over 40 biolaboratories in Ukraine linked to the American military-industrial complex.

In June 2022, the Pentagon reported that the US had supported 46 biological laboratories in Ukraine. According to Washington, this cooperation was for peaceful purposes. Meanwhile, Russian authorities have repeatedly expressed concern about the activities of US biolaboratories in Ukraine. Now, the US National Intelligence Directorate has effectively acknowledged the validity of these concerns. Gabbard confirmed that the research conducted at these facilities could have a catastrophic global impact.