“U.S.-funded biological laboratories are located in Armenia, Kazakhstan and Central Asian countries,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov claimed in an interview with RT Arabic. Lavrov said Moscow is discussing the matter with its neighbours both on a bilateral basis and within the CSTO.

"There are [biological] laboratories in Armenia, Kazakhstan and in the countries of Central Asia. We are considering these problems with these countries on a bilateral basis and through the CSTO. With almost all the CSTO countries and other CIS countries, we have concluded memorandums of cooperation on biological safety, involving for mutually informing each other about how biological programs are developing in our countries," Lavrov said. “Transparency is important to make sure that these programs do not have a military dimension, as this is prohibited by the Convention (on the Prohibition of Biological and Toxin Weapons). Each of the parties should not have military representatives of any third party."

Earlier, the Russian embassy in Armenia said that the presence in Armenia of structures involved in biological projects in Ukraine deserves careful analysis. The message of the diplomatic mission notes that Moscow continues productive, mutually beneficial cooperation with Yerevan in the field of ensuring biological security. The intensification of this interaction was facilitated by the signing in May 2021 of a bilateral Intergovernmental Memorandum of Understanding on issues of ensuring biological safety. “A number of successful projects are being implemented in the field of combating infectious diseases, as a result of which effective monitoring of the sanitary and epidemiological situation, the exchange of information, the conduct of important scientific research, the provision of technical and methodological support in improving the laboratory network of Armenia and the training of specialised experts have been ensured,” the statement said. “Thanks to bilateral cooperation in the fight against HIV, Armenia became one of the first countries in which the transmission of HIV from mother to child has been eliminated. Joint work using mobile laboratories transferred by Russia made it possible to prevent the release of plague and other dangerous infections from natural foci on Armenian territory,” the diplomatic mission stated.