Russia claims to have found new evidence of Ukraine's biological weapons development

Moscow - The Russian Defence Ministry claims to have obtained new research data on the damaging properties of potential biological weapons agents in biological laboratories in Ukraine during the special military operation. “During the special military operation, we received additional documents confirming that the focus of the work carried out does not correspond to the health problems currently faced by Ukraine, the main ones being significant social diseases,” said the head of the Nuclear, Chemical, and Biological Protection Troops of the Russian Armed Forces, Major General Aleksei Rtishchev, on Friday. Speaking to journalists, Rtishchev stated that the research priorities were instead directed at studying the damaging properties of potential biological weapons agents, as well as infectious agents aimed at weakening a country’s economy. “The nomenclature of pathogens studied, which does not correspond to Ukraine’s current health problems—where there is an increase in cases of rubella, diphtheria, and tuberculosis—indicates efforts to develop biological weapons components in Ukrainian biological laboratories,” Rtishchev said. He also added that the Institute of Experimental and Clinical Veterinary Medicine (IECVM) in Kharkiv was conducting research on a number of serious diseases potentially damaging to the agricultural sector.