During a Russian Defense Ministry presentation held on July 14, 2023, Lt. Gen. Igor Kirillov — a bioweapons specialist — declared the United States State Department is carrying out an active censorship campaign.
He said this is happening to downplay Russian accusations that US military biologists have violated norms spelled out by the Biological Weapons Convention.
Kirilov claims the International Science and Technology Centre (ISTC) located in Astana, Kazakhstan played a significant role in censoring claims about US bioweapons in Ukraine.
The Russian military official added that ISTC conducted this censorship operation along with Wooden Horse Strategies, an American consulting company based in Kiev, that Atlantic Council Eurasia Center senior fellow Brian Mefford leads.
Kirilov noted the contract between ISTC and Wooden Horse facilitates the publication of relevant content at least eight times per month. This happens in addition to the surveillance of pro-Russian online outlets that cover this topic.
ISTC also bankrolls internet activities designed to suppress information regarding US bio laboratories operating in Ukraine and push a positive image of the US government’s projects in post-Soviet countries, added Kirillov.
The Russian military official also claimed the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is bankrolling dual-use production facilities, namely the Oxitec biotechnology company.
This could be designed to produce massive amounts of potential infection vectors for bioweapons.
On top of that, Kirilov argues US military biologists are working to create “artificially managed epidemics” that are not subject to the norms of the Biological Weapons Convention.
Russian authorities claim to have gotten their hands on documents demonstrating the Pentagon ran bioweapons research facilities across Ukraine through the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research.
The Russians also believe the Pentagon conducted acts of biowarfare in the predominantly Russian-speaking Ukrainian region of the Donbas from 2014 to 2022.