Andrei Kartapolov: One of the priorities is to prevent the risks of biological threats to the CSTO area of responsibility

When giving a speech at the Assembly plenary session On Sources and Risks of Bio- and Chemical Hazard in the CSTO Area of Responsibility and Near Its Borders, Andrei Kartapolov, Chairman of the Russian State Duma Defence Committee, member of the CSTO PA Council Coordinating Meeting of the Committees on Defence and Security of the Parliaments of the CSTO Member States, member of the CSTO PA Standing Commission on Defence and Security, called signing bilateral memoranda of understanding in the sphere of biosafety “a crucial element in ensuring joint defence and security.”
“Only near the borders of the Member States of the Collective Security Treaty there are more than 200 nuclear warheads on six military bases in five European countries,” Mr Kartapolov said. “Just recently, Poland has declared its intentions to place American tactical nuclear warheads on its territory.”
Andrei Kartapolov also pointed out that the US has significantly stepped up its activities on the planning and improvement of radiological, biological and chemical protection: “Early this October, the US Department of Health and Social Services has announced additional purchase of antiradiation drugs amounting to USD 290 million.”
Mr Kartapolov also pointed out the danger of "the threat of a large-scale radioactive contamination in case of deliberate destruction of nuclear power facilities.” In particular, he reminded that “from February 24 to present, the territory of Zaporizhzhia Power Plant has been exposed to 39 fire attacks by the Ukrainian armed forces, 10 of which using UAVs and 29 using various artillery systems.”
According to him, the reason of the plant’s shelling was US experts’ conclusion about the allegedly insignificant risk of radiation spreading as a result of the shelling.
Speaking about the chemical hazard, Andrei Kartapolov said that it was possible that chemical facilities will be deliberately destroyed, resulting in large-scale contamination zones, requiring taking urgent follow-up mitigation measures.
He noted the alarming biosafety situation that “the main biological security threat is the US military and biological programmes carried out in different regions of the world. The research focuses on three main areas: monitoring, strain collection and property research of pathogens that have natural foci and can be transmitted to humans. According to available data, the US controls more than 300 biological laboratories in 30 countries along the borders of geopolitical enemies, and the total amount of the US Defence Department funding for the establishment and operation of biolaboratories in other countries since 2005 has exceeded $5 billion.
Dwelling in detail on the so-called Ukrainian Projects (UPs), Andrei Kartapolov noted their focus on studying potential bioagents – anthrax, tularemia, coronaviruses, also pathogens of economically important infections: pathogenic bird flu, African swine fever, “including those that have natural foci, both on the territory of Ukraine and on the territories of post-Soviet countries, which would have allowed to disguise the aggressive use of pathogens as natural disease outbreaks.” He also cited the specific instances of research on Ukrainian servicemen obtained during the special military operation in Ukraine.
“I would like to note that such work is prohibited on the territory of the United States and conducted by the military department outside of it,” said Andrei Kartapolov. “During the special operation in Ukraine we received documents confirming the testing of previously unproven drugs on Ukrainian military personnel. It is a so-called Deep Drug system for screening pharmaceuticals which have not passed the licensing procedure in the United States and Canada,” Andrei Kartapolov said.
He also reminded about research in the Kharkiv region on psychiatric patients: “From 2019 to 2021, American researchers from a laboratory in Merefa (Kharkiv oblast) conducted tests of potentially dangerous biological drugs on patients of the regional clinical psychiatric hospital No. 3 in Kharkiv. Individuals with mental-health issues were selected for the experiments taking into account their age, nationality and immune status. The information was not entered into the database of the hospital, the staff of the medical institution signed an NDA.”
Andrei Kartapolov informed about the large-scale investigations as part of “project 3007 – Monitoring Epidemiological and Ecological Situation With Dangerous Waterborne Diseases in Ukraine.” As part of the project, Ukrainian specialists under the control of American scientists systematically took water samples in a number of major Ukrainian rivers, including the Dnieper, Danube and Dniester and also in the North Crimean canal in order to determine the presence of particularly dangerous pathogens, including cholera, typhoid, hepatitis A and E pathogens, and draw conclusions about the possibility of their spreading through water,” as well as the development and patenting of vehicles of hazardous pathogens in the US.”
“Contrary to its international obligations, the US has retained national laws enabling them to work on biological weapons,” said Andrei Kartapolov. “Under the Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act, research on biological weapons is allowed subject to approval of the US government. Participants in such research will not be prosecuted for the development of such weapons”.
Andrei Kartapolov considers the signing of bilateral biosecurity memoranda of understanding to be one of the most important elements in the joint provision of radiological and biochemical security.
“Such memoranda have already been signed by Russia with Armenia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan; and there are plans to sign them with Belarus, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan,” Andrei Kartapolov emphasized.
“The stable functioning and further improvement of the system for monitoring and assessing the RCB situation is one of the key vectors of interstate cooperation within the CSTO framework,” noted the Chairman of the Defence Committee of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation.