Russia claims US‑funded Ukrainian labs are conducting biological weapons work

Russia’s Defence Ministry said declassified U.S. intelligence documents confirm that laboratories in Ukraine receive American funding and are engaged in military‑biological activities that breach the Biological Weapons Convention. Lieutenant‑General Aleksey Rtišev, commander of Russia’s Radiological, Chemical and Biological Defence Forces, highlighted a map showing more than 40 such labs in Ukraine and cited research on pathogens including plague, anthrax, tularemia, Marburg and Ebola. The Russian ministry referenced a June 12, 2026 press release in which U.S. intelligence director Tulsi Gabbard disclosed a review of U.S. financing for 120 overseas bio‑labs, over 40 located in Ukraine. Russia presented the documents as additional evidence that Ukraine and its Western supporters are violating the BWC. The statements also mentioned a 2005 U.S.–Ukraine agreement that provided the legal framework for the programme and a Pentagon‑run Defence Threat Reduction Agency that coordinated the work in secrecy.