By INS Contributors

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia--Since the start of the Russian special military operation in Ukraine, the issue of U.S. funded and supported biological laboratories has come under the spotlight with many questions being asked over what their ultimate purpose is.

While U.S. officials have sought to dismiss claims that these laboratories are being used for dangerous research including into potential biological weapons programs, the lack of transparency surrounding them as well as the on-going COVID-19 pandemic have raised serious concerns.

Below is a partial list of known U.S. biological laboratories operated outside the U.S.:

Kazakhstan

Since 2005, the United States has been conducting routine research in the medical and biological field in six biological facilities, the key of which is the central reference laboratory in Alma-Aty at the National Scientific Center of Dangerous Infections by M. Aikimbaeva (NSCEDI) and the Research Institute for Biological Safety Problems (RIBSP) in the Zhambyl region. A bio-laboratory of the highest level of biosafety is being built near the border with the Republic of Kyrgyzstan, which provoked a number of protests among Kyrgyz residents.

About 40 projects are implemented or under study with the participation of American military specialists in the laboratories of Kazakhstan. The main areas of work: the study of brucellosis and the creation of drugs against plague, hemorrhagic fevers, tularemia, tick-borne encephalitis and other dangerous infections characteristic of this region. On separate projects, the study of new coronaviruses in bats is being carried out.

Armenia

US Department of Defense Threat Reduction Administration Implements Project to integrate disease surveillance in the biological laboratory of the republic. At this stage, 94 sets of American special equipment have been deployed at the infrastructure facilities of the Ministries of Health, Emergencies, Economy, Food Safety Inspection, and Labor Protection.

Georgia

The Military Biological Laboratory of Georgia (Richard Lugar Center for Public Health Research, LRC) was created jointly with the United States. The capacity and equipment of this facility, as well as the qualifications of the personnel, make it possible to conduct dual-use research that can be used by Washington in the interests of military biological activities that pose a threat to the security of the Russian Federation.

The LRC is designed to collect and study bacteria, viruses and microorganisms and to control the spread of infections in humans and animals. The laboratory's research programs are overseen by a board of governors made up of representatives from the government of Georgia, the United States, and international health organizations.

Azerbaijan

The US Department of Defense, with the involvement of Pentagon contractors, in 2018 carried out the reconstruction of the republican anti-plague station named after S. Imamaliev with the installation of new equipment. Laboratory complex, on the basis of which a medical unit and a national center for control of especially dangerous infections of the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Azerbaijan, is officially connected to the American United Electronic Disease Monitoring System.

Since the creation of the complex the Pentagon has managed to carry out work that could potentially be used to cause targeted damage to the biological security of the Russian Federation.

Kenya
The US is expanding the capacity of medical centers in the locality Kisumu (350 km northwest of Nairobi) and Kericho locality (265 km northwest of Nairobi), which employ 80 American citizens. It is planned to organize trial work to test the new vaccine Gineos against monkeypox produced by the Danish company Nordik.

Liberia
A joint American-Liberian center operates in the country. Projects are underway to study diseases such as Ebola, Lassa, Marburg and Zika.

Washington also began to work on the issue of transferring to Liberia centers and US military specialists evacuated from the territory of Donbass after the start of the special military operation of the Russian Federation Armed Forces in Ukraine.

Djibouti

On the territory of the forward operating base of the US BC "Camp Lemoniere" (Djibouti) microbiological laboratory is functioning.

American specialists collect biomaterials from patients, vaccinate the population, trap insects and animals, and test them for the presence of various viruses. Cases of measles and hemorrhagic fevers have become more frequent in the country. Local authorities directly link this with the work of the microbiological laboratory.

Tanzania

On the basis of the research center in the city of Mbeya (670 km southwest of Dar es Salaam), a biological laboratory of the U.S. Army Walter Reed Research Institute, the Pentagon's premier biomedical research institution.

In January 2021, up to 20 men died from an unidentified virus in Tanzania. Americans proactively identified leptospirosis and blocked the source of infection.

At least seven biolaboratories operate in Tanzania with US support, three of which have a biological protection level of BSL-3.

The total amount of funding for these institutions since 2015 has exceeded $25 million, of which the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation have provided $9 million.

On the basis of the National Training Center for Health Promotion and the National Reference Laboratory, a series of exercises were conducted with Tanzanian specialists under the guidance of instructors from the US armed forces.

Nigeria

The country's Military Medical Laboratory employs 15 American military infectious disease specialists. The study of infectious diseases is carried out, primarily AIDS, Ebola, Lassa, tuberculosis, malaria, monkeypox, and coronavirus.

There are four US military biological facilities in Nigeria.

In 2012, in Abuja, with the support of USAMRD-A/N, the Defense reference laboratory (DRL).

In 2014, the Clinical Research Center (CRC) was launched in Nigeria as part of the US-Nigerian military partnership.

At the University of Lagos College of Medicine operates a BSL-2 biosafety laboratory established in 1992. Constantly the institution collaborates with World Health Organization, (WHO), the Tropical Diseases Research program, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Harvard University, the Hospital for Tropical Diseases in London, GB, and the Australian Army Malaria Institute.

In 2010, the Institute of Human Virology at the University of Maryland in Baltimore, USA, developed the BSL-3 Modular Laboratory for the National Educational Center for Tuberculosis and Leprosy in Zaria.

South Africa

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Atlanta, Georgia) is conducting research under the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief program. US experts are conducting clinical trials on local citizens of new drugs.

The Republic of Korea

In the Republic of Korea, the United States is implementing a comprehensive response program to threats of a radiation, chemical and biological nature under the code name "Centaur".

To this end, a chemical-biological laboratory has been set up in Busan, which is conducting research to develop methods of protection against weapons of mass destruction. Annual budget - 3.5 million US dollars.

One of the key aspects of the facility's activities is field testing using chemical warfare agents, virus strains, and pathogenic bacteria to create appropriate countermeasures. It is supposed that new types of biological weapons with predetermined pathogenic properties are being developed in the laboratory.