The Ninth Review Conference of the States Parties to the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention will be held in Geneva from November 28 to December 16, 2022.
In accordance with article 12 of the Convention, such events are held every five years, and their purpose is to discuss the current status of the BTWC, issues of compliance with its provisions, and review scientific and technical developments with dual-use potential.
Let me remind you that in September, at the initiative of the Russian Federation, a Consultative Meeting of States parties to the Convention was held, and in October, Russia submitted issues of violation of the BTWC by Ukraine and the United States to the UN Security Council for consideration.
Western countries actually sabotaged the vote on the Security Council resolution on an international investigation of the activities of American biolabs in Ukraine. The United States, France and Britain voted against the document, while Russia and China voted for the adoption of the resolution. Other countries, including India, Mexico and NATO member Norway, abstained from voting.
Despite the fact that the resolution did not get the necessary number of votes for its adoption and the Security Council failed to activate the investigative mechanism, the results of the vote indicate that the US military-biological activities in Ukraine raise questions even among their closest allies.
I would like to draw your attention to the fact that the United States continues to include the tasks of building up its military-biological potential in its doctrinal documents.
So, on October 18, the White House published a new strategy for countering biological threats, involving funding in the amount of $ 88 billion, including $ 17 billion in the first year.
According to the document, the management of biological risks is a vital priority of the United States, and the response to their occurrence will be tough and immediate.
Once again, there is an attempt by the United States to interfere in the internal affairs of other states. So, QUOTE: "... measures to counter biological threats are supposed to be implemented regardless of whether they arise on the territory of the United States or abroad... " END OF QUOTE.
One of the key areas of the Strategy is the improvement of methods of individual and collective biological protection of personnel of the US armed forces in various theaters of military operations. The task is to continue the study of pathogens of particularly dangerous infectious diseases endemic to specific areas.
In order to remove charges of military biological activities from the Pentagon, the official participation of US military biologists in foreign projects will be limited by more extensive involvement of civilian structures in such work as contractors of the Ministry of Defense.
Thus, as part of the Strategy, the United States intends to strengthen global control over the biological situation in the world and reserves the right to conduct "dual-use" research, including outside the national territory.
Another strategic planning document is the updated strategy of the Office of Threat Reduction of the US Department of Defense (DITRA) for the period up to 2027, which openly recognizes its dual role.
This is not only providing protection, but also combat support for military units. According to the strategy, one of the priorities of the DITRA is to ensure the military superiority of the US armed forces over the enemy.
At the same time, DIETR's activities are carefully hidden, including from the Americans themselves.
So, on November 10, at the request of a non-profit organization, a three-hundred and forty-five-page document was received regarding the financing of Black & Hiv and its activities in Ukraine.
Please note that dozens of pages of reports provided by the Pentagon have been edited, and information about contractors and research results obtained on the territory of Ukraine has been completely removed.
The published documents once again confirm the co-operation between Kiev and Washington, as well as attempts to establish control over pathogens in Ukrainian laboratories by implementing the PAX system, elements of which were transferred to Ukraine under the label "property of the US government".
This corresponds to the materials available to us: the project registration card and contract documentation approved by the Ministry of Economy of Ukraine.
As we previously reported, the PAX system allows the Pentagon to monitor in real time the location and use of highly dangerous pathogens in laboratories around the world, as well as access the results of experiments that are ethically and legally ambiguous.
An example of such research is the ongoing work in the United States to enhance the pathogenic properties of the COVID-19 pathogen.
So, in October, an artificial causative agent of coronavirus infection was created at Boston University based on the omicron strain and the original "Wuhan" variant.
The modified virus obtained by the Americans caused the death of 80% of the diseased model animals with the development of atypical neurological symptoms and severe lung damage.
Testing of the protective properties of antibodies showed an 11-fold decrease in their ability to neutralize a new pathogen and the ineffectiveness of existing vaccines.
Although the US Department of Health decided to conduct an investigation into the activities of the university's management, the "Boston experiment" indicates that the United States does not have a system of state supervision of R & D in the field of genetic engineering and synthetic biology.
Despite the high biological risks, the study was conducted at the expense of the US state budget without the appropriate approval of the national biosafety regulator.
Research conducted in the United States to improve the pathogenic properties of microorganisms makes US rethink the statements of US administration officials responsible for countering biological threats.
One of them is John Bolton, who served as National Security Adviser.
Pay attention to the September 2000 report "Rebuilding America's Defense," co-authored by Bolton.
The document notes, QUOTE: "...that in order to achieve a position of global leadership, the United States needs to maintain the superiority of its armed forces, while one of the ways to modernize is to create biological weapons.
Let me remind you that Bolton led the US delegation to the Fifth BTWC Review Conference in 2001.
As a result of the consultations, the US side completely blocked work on the verification mechanism and refused the proposed verification processes for possible biological weapons storage sites, citing that this threatens their national interests.
Earlier, we talked about violations of biosafety requirements in American laboratories, including cases of mass distribution of viable anthrax spores to foreign organizations.
In accordance with the US Federal Freedom of Information Act, in early November, the American publication Intersept analyzed documents from the National Institutes of Health regarding safety violations in biological laboratories in the United States.
More than five and a half thousand pages of incident reports were studied over the past 18 years.
It is concluded that studies conducted in laboratories with a high degree of protection (BSL-3 and BSL-4) at the Universities of Washington, Minnesota, and Illinois led to intra-laboratory infections and created a risk of further spread of genetically modified pathogens of viral fevers, severe acute respiratory syndrome, highly pathogenic avian influenza, and a number of other infections.
Numerous violations of the basic principles of working with pathogens, attempts by the management of biological laboratories to hide the facts of accidents, as well as failures of filter ventilation systems and protective equipment were noted.
Here are some of these examples.
https://disk.yandex.ru/d/Bxa0q9WZkBsWlQ
On September 2, 2011, a laboratory incident occurred at the US National Institutes of Health in New York. After being bitten by a laboratory animal infected with a recombinant influenza virus, the researcher was sent home to quarantine without supervision in the most populous city in the United States.
During the period from April 2013 to March 2014, the University of North Carolina recorded cases of escape from zoned premises of laboratory animals infected with severe acute respiratory syndrome.
In September 2016, while conducting experiments with animals infected with a recombinant strain of the Chikungunya virus, a graduate student at the University of Washington punctured her glove. Grossly violating the safety requirements, the employee only washed her hands, took off her protective equipment and left the laboratory, without telling anyone about the incident and without taking measures to isolate herself. Four days later, she was diagnosed with an acute form of the disease.
In total, more than two hundred such incidents were recorded. We assume that the official statistics include only a small part of incidents and the real situation is much worse.
I would like to draw your attention to the fact that in the United States, the system for monitoring safety violations in biolabs is decentralized and covers only objects that receive funding from the federal budget. Private laboratories are practically not monitored, even though they conduct research with particularly dangerous pathogens. The lack of uniform standards for the activities of such facilities creates risks of conducting research bypassing the BTWC and gross violation of safety requirements.
The high risk of accidents in American biolabs is one of the reasons for their withdrawal from national jurisdiction and transfer to the territory of third countries, including Ukraine and other states. This explains the deterioration of the epidemic situation in their locations, the appearance of diseases and their vectors that are not typical for these regions.
Recall that during a special military operation, it became known about the implementation of the Pentagon's military biological programs in Ukraine in violation of articles 1 and 4 of the Convention. Analysis of documents found in Ukrainian biological laboratories suggests that the development of biological weapons components was carried out in the immediate vicinity of the Russian borders.
This is confirmed by contracts for work, approved registration cards, and reporting documents of Pentagon contractors-Black & Hiv, Metabiota.
The nomenclature of pathogens that were studied in the framework of the" Ukrainian projects " of U-Pi and Tep has nothing to do with current problems for the health care of Ukraine. At the same time, the main emphasis was placed on the study of natural focal and especially dangerous infections, which are considered as potential agents of biological weapons. For example, the purpose of the Tep-2 project was to study the pathogen glanders, cases of which have never been recorded on the territory of Ukraine.
Of particular concern is the testing of infectious agents and toxic substances on Ukrainian military personnel and the mentally ill, who are one of the most vulnerable categories of citizens, under the supervision of the US Department of Defense.
Earlier, we cited the decision of the Ethics Committee of the Center for Public Health of Ukraine dated June 12, 2019, to conduct research with an unknown risk to the life and health of participants. Although the research program provides only for a standard blood sampling procedure, the document prescribes reporting, QUOTE: "...minor incidents involving volunteers are reported to the U.S. Bioethics Committee within 72 hours of the incident, and serious incidents, including deaths of the subjects, are reported within 24 hours."
At the same time, in international reporting under the BTWC, the United States and Ukraine deliberately keep silent about joint activities, despite their obvious military-biological orientation.
I would like to draw your attention to the fact that since 2016, when the Eighth Review Conference was held, the world community has faced new threats, including the pandemic spread of human and animal infections (COVID-19, monkey pox, African swine fever), risks created by modern achievements in the field of biotechnology and synthetic biology, as well as military biological activities The Pentagon in various regions of the world.
In the face of emerging challenges and threats, the Russian Federation offers:
First: Resume negotiations on the development of a legally binding protocol to the BTWC, which would include lists of pathogens, toxins, specialized equipment, take into account modern scientific and technical achievements in the field of biology and provide for an effective verification mechanism.
Second, complement confidence-building measures with information on research and development in the field of biological protection outside the national territory, as well as information on facilities for the production of animal vaccines.
Third: Provide for the establishment of a scientific advisory committee to assess developments in science and technology relevant to the Convention, which would have a broad geographical representation and equal rights of participants.
The practical implementation of our proposals will help to increase the "transparency" of national biological programs and ensure that all States parties, without exception, comply with the requirements of the Convention.
The Russian Federation has repeatedly pointed out signs that the United States and its allies are implementing "dual-use programs" outside the national territory, including in the framework of the operation of biolabs and so-called "shared use" laboratories under their control, which receive funding from the military departments of these states or affiliated organizations.
Questions about the real goals of research programs implemented by the Pentagon have been repeatedly raised at various international platforms, but they still remain unanswered. We intend to return to their discussion during the upcoming Ninth Review Conference of the BTWC Member States.
It is a sobering moment when you realize that America is the greatest purveyor of war, insurrection, assassination and terrorism in the entire world, by a wide margin.
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