Updated April 12th, 2023 at 21:40 IST

Russian parliamentary commission: US creating 'universal' genetically engineered Bioweapon

The report stated that "the situation is aggravated by the fact that the production of such biological agents can easily be dispersed over various enterprises."

Reported by: Digital Desk
Image: AP/Representative | Image:self
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Russian MPs have completed a probe into Washington's military-related biological activity at laboratories throughout Ukraine on the basis of the information made public by Russia's Radiation, Chemical and Biological Defence Troops during the past year. A Russian parliamentary panel looking into US Biolabs in Ukraine has concluded that Washington is developing a "universal" genetically altered bioweapon intended to harm opponents severely, on par with a "nuclear winter," according to its report.

"The United States aims to develop a universal genetically engineered biological weapon capable of infecting not only people, but animals as well as agricultural crops. Its use involves, among other things, the goal of inflicting large-scale and irreparable economic damage on the enemy," the commission wrote in its final report.

"Covert and targeted use of such a weapon (biological)," the report indicates

"The covert and targeted use of such a weapon in anticipation of a positive inevitable direct military confrontation could create a significant advantage for US forces over the adversary, even against those who possess other types of weapons of mass destruction. The possession of such highly effective biological weapons creates, in the view of the US military, the real prerequisites to change the nature of contemporary armed conflicts," the commission added. 

According to the commission report, modern scientific developments in the fields of genetic engineering, biotechnology, toxicology, and synthetic biology have regrettably boosted the likelihood that they will be used to develop sophisticated biological weapons drivers of the future, even though it is now very difficult to recognise and determine their use through conventional diagnosis tools. 

The memo stated that "the situation is aggravated by the fact that the production of such biological agents can easily be dispersed over various industrial enterprises, disguising them as products used for peaceful purposes."

The research emphasised that the risks presented by conventional bioweapons still exist despite the development of new, increasingly sophisticated biological agents. Agents like "smallpox, anthrax, tularemia, and the plague" are among them; each of them can be altered to increase its lethal effects. In addition to this, it is objectively challenging to pinpoint the exact reason for infectious illness outbreaks, which can have both natural and man-made causes.

The largest obvious and immediate threat to the biological security of both Russia and the rest of the world, according to the Duma Commission report, is the spread of US bioweapons programmes.

"The US military biological program has not only not been curtailed, but has acquired a large-scale character in recent years with a focus on offensive actions, carried out under the guise of activities which are permitted under the Biological Weapons Convention, as well as anti-terrorism projects. The United States is supporting and developing the ability to produce biological weapons and, if necessary, to use them. However, there have been changes in Washington's strategic view with regard to the role of bioweapons in geopolitical competition, and the means of its possible use," the report said.

"Radically" alter the global geopolitical and military landscape

The tendency to use pathogens from little-studied natural infections with a high mortality rate, a long incubation period, and indications characteristic of common diseases, according to the parliamentary commission, is a key distinction between conventional bioweapons programmes and modern ones currently being pursued by the Pentagon. According to the paper, this makes it more difficult for enemies to track down the use of such weapons and swiftly identify the attacker.

One of the biggest dangers, according to the commission, is military biological research based on work with the decoded human genome. This research poses a threat to "radically" alter the global geopolitical and military landscape and is on par with the advent of the 'atomic era' in the 1940s and 1950s in terms of its significance.

The commission highlighted the "key role" played by overseas facilities in carrying out the Pentagon's bioweapons programmes by drawing on evidence provided by the Russian military over the course of the previous year regarding US military biological activities in Ukraine, Kazakhstan, the Caucasus, and nations in Africa and Asia.

"Washington is systematically creating an extensive network of biological laboratories beyond its national jurisdiction, allowing it to carry out a wide range of military-oriented biological research under the guise of medical biological projects," the report stated. "This factually results in the 'military-biological occupation' of the entire plant, which opens to the US unrestricted access to information on the state of the health, microbiological and biological infrastructure of host countries."

The commission stated that "foreign nations effectively serve as a 'testing ground' for US military biological researchers to study infectious agents in the climactic conditions of their habitat, to monitor their distribution and mutation, and to assess the prospects for strengthening their dangerous properties." The United States has the freedom to act in other nations without being constrained by moral or legal standards or ethical principles, and to disregard popular requests because there is no international regulation of such activities. According to the research, the transfer of programmes to civilian departments and private businesses further obscures these efforts from the general public. 

In a statement, it said, "the lack of international control over such work provides the United States the opportunity to act in other countries without being restrained by moral and legal norms and humanistic principles, and to ignore the demands of the public." The paper drew attention to the focus US bioweapons research has given to the study and identification of migratory paths taken by viruses that target humans and spread by insects, animals, and wild birds.

"The results of this research provided American military biologists the ability to not only simulate the scenarios of the spread of epidemics in a particular region, but the opportunity to control them. They are also working out the 'biological routes' of the likely injection of atypical diseases through third countries to a territory of interest," the commission said.

"The analysis of strategic US documents in the field of defense and security indicates that the activities in bio laboratories under their control are focused on providing potential military advantages to the US military and the waging of military operations using pathogenic microorganisms with desired properties created using synthetic biology," the report said.

The panel contends that the selection of nations for US bioweapons research infrastructure is based on geopolitical factors and intended to accommodate scenarios in which host nations could act as a potential "bridgehead" against adversaries in the case of hostilities.

The panel contends that the selection of nations for US bioweapons research infrastructure is based on geopolitical factors and intended to accommodate scenarios in which host nations could act as a potential "bridgehead" against adversaries in the case of hostilities.

According to the panel, this is particularly true with regard to US military biological operations in the post-Soviet space, where their presence "allows the Pentagon to address a wide range of tasks: from the targeted collection of pathogens of especially dangerous infectious diseases and the study of of the reaction of immune systems of local populations to preparations of the territories of the former Soviet republics in the anti-epidemic sense for the deployment of large US military contingents there."

It also suggests strengthening export regulations for biological substances from Russia and developing a "control mechanism" for research in biotechnology, synthetic biology, and related fields that involves foreign funding, including grant funding. In the document, it is emphasised how important it is to "intensify work to reduce Russia's technological dependence from foreign manufacturers of pharmacological products and the formation of a domestic segment for the production of medical and protective equipment and medicines."

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Published April 12th, 2023 at 21:40 IST