KRASNODAR. July 6 (Interfax) - U.S. military biological activities near the Russian border pose major risks to the population, Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev said.
"U.S. military biological activities near Russian borders, including the creation of artificial hotspots of the pathogens of infectious diseases, pose high risks [in terms of] infecting the population with natural focal infectious diseases, including various types of fevers," Patrushev said at a meeting in Krasnodar on Thursday.
Igor Kirillov, the head of the Russian Armed Forces' Radiation, Chemical and Biological Protection Troops, earlier said the United States had created a network of biological laboratories in 14 populated areas in Ukraine. He said U.S. biological laboratories may have been used to develop biological materials capable of selectively attacking various ethnic groups.
The U.S. Department of Defense said in June that it had provided assistance to 46 Ukrainian entities working in the field of biology over 20 years, but the programs were not related to military matters.