March 15, 2022
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Statement by the Embassy of the United States in Bulgaria
As the State Department’s spokesperson said in a public statement on March 9, it is untrue that The United States is developing biological weapons. It is Russia, not Ukraine, that has an active biological weapons program in violation of the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC).
Russia’s accusations about peaceful Ukrainian military biological research laboratories are absolutely false. Ukraine is in full compliance with the BWC and the United States would not cooperate with them for peaceful purposes otherwise. The research laboratories in Ukraine are fully run by the Ukrainian health and agriculture ministries.
We’ve provided support to renovate and equip the laboratories and to train personnel to work more safely and effectively on disease surveillance and response. This support has been publicly documented since it began – proudly, clearly, and in the open. The labs’ work is entirely peaceful in nature unlike Russia’s chemical and biological weapons programs, which are offensive in nature.
More information can be found here:
FACT SHEET: The Department of Defense’s Cooperative Threat Reduction Program – Biological Threat Reduction Program Activities in Ukraine
