AhlulBayt News Agency (ABNA): Scott Ritter, a former officer of the U.S. Marine Corps Intelligence unit and a military analyst, stated in an interview with TASS news agency: "U.S. biological laboratories in Ukraine have likely violated the Biological Weapons Convention by conducting offensive research; an issue that could increase the risk of pathogen leakage and then be falsely attributed to Russia."
He said, "We know without the slightest doubt that each of these laboratories constitutes a violation of the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention. Now we must raise the question of what their real purpose is, because some documents indicate that part of the research conducted was not for defensive purposes but for offensive purposes."
The former U.S. Marine Corps Intelligence officer added that the United States has a history of saying, "We are only doing this for defensive purposes." But the mechanism for producing the same biological agent against which you claim to be defending yourself is the same mechanism that can be used to produce the biological agent used in attacking others.
According to this expert, the existence of such materials in Ukraine increases the risk of leakage and dissemination of pathogens; incidents for which Western countries will try to hold Russia responsible.
Ritter added, "Now it is said that if Russia bombs these facilities, the safety systems will be damaged, the temperature will drop, and the glass containers will break. As a result, these agents could be released into the environment, and then it will be made to appear that this is Russia's fault, while it was the United States that facilitated Ukraine's continued maintenance of prohibited biological materials."
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