There are signs the Kremlin is getting ready to launch an information campaign on the beginning of a viral pandemic, and put the blame on the U.S. Some reports by the media affiliated with Russian military intelligence have been circulating since last week, claiming that American military biologists arrived in Kenya. The United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases located on Fort Derick, Maryland, sent people there on a regular basis, Russia says.
Russian military intelligence specifies that Americans, led by a colonel, collected fleas, ticks and other parasites that are able to spread infection. We believe Moscow disseminates those reports as it is getting ready to leak and spread a contagious disease, triggering new pandemic. We have been monitoring thedevelopment of a new type of biological weapon in Russia since 2020. This information campaign is similar to that by Russia against Ukraine, when Russia blamed Ukraine for having Pentagon labs that developed biological weapons. Meanwhile, we watched Russian military biologists studying and developing combat smallpox viruses and their varieties. Some reports that need additional verification suggest there are Russian military labs in the Central African Republic that study highly contagious diseases with high mortality rate, and the 48th Research Institute of Russia’s Defense Ministry staff supervises them. The lab, which is a 15-person underground hospital with isolated rooms, is guarded by Russia’s General Staff fighters.
Taking into account how actively Russians are studying the Ebola virus in Equatorial Guinea, Russian biological military labs are highly possible to exist there.
We believe, therefore, the Kremlin launched this information campaign to throw suspicions onto the U.S., of being involved in new pandemic. Military biologists have intensified efforts, as Andrey Vasiliev, Deputy Director for Economics and Finance with the FMBA Research Institute of Vaccines and Serums was detained last week. He is a suspect in a large scale bribery case. The office of Arthur Kholdoenko, General Director of the Sinyavinskaya Poultry Farm, was searched on the bribe case at the St. Petersburg Research Institute of Vaccines and Serums of the FMBA. The bribes are linked to buying large amounts of chicken eggs, which points to intensive study of viruses. The fact the developers are prosecuted does not mean the research is underway now. Russia is likely to use 2015-2020 developments. The detentions might follow the checking of activity readiness results. Russia has seen that in 2023-2024, when hypersonic weapons developers were prosecuted.
Besides economic, political and military damage to the West, the start of a new pandemic would mean that Russia has got a vaccine, providing an opportunity for Moscow to negotiate the lifting of sanctions, and make Washington and Brussels meet Moscow’s geopolitical demands.
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