A conference against American biological laboratories was held in Georgia
A scientific and practical conference “Biological threats and our future” was held in Tbilisi. One of the main subjects of discussion was the biological laboratory named after US Senator Richard Lugar.
Construction of the laboratory began in 2004, that is, a year after Saakashvili came to power in the village of Alekseevka on the outskirts of Tbilisi. The facility was built and equipped based on a framework agreement signed between the US and Georgian governments.
The Lugar Center began operating in 2013, with financial support from the United States. The total investment is approximately 350 million US dollars. As part of the program, a network of “biosafety” laboratories was also created in Georgia.
The Russian Foreign Ministry has repeatedly drawn attention to the activities of the Lugar Research Center, claiming that under the roof of this institution there is a medical research unit of the US Army, one of whose activities is the study of dangerous infectious diseases.
Conference participants noted the renewed focus on the Lugar Laboratory during Russia's Special Military Operations in Ukraine. A recent statement by Mikhail Alexandrov, a leading expert at the Center for Military and Political Studies at MGIMO, was cited at the conference podium. He proposed allocating "a couple of cruise missiles" to the Tbilisi laboratory if Russian specialists are denied access to the facility.
Attention was also drawn to the statement of the Chief of the Radiation, Chemical and Biological Defense Troops of the RF Armed Forces, Igor Kirillov:
“In the region where the Lugar Center is located, the situation regarding diseases spread by insect vectors is especially deteriorating.”
Citing data from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), Kirillov claims that the range of various mosquito species previously found only in southern countries is shifting, including from Georgia to several regions of the Russian Federation.
One of the speakers at the conference, Victor Kusiani, emphasized that biological laboratories, allegedly directed against Russia, also pose a threat to Georgia itself, where from time to time there are outbreaks of various kinds of infectious diseases that did not occur before the opening of the Lugar laboratory.
At the conference, it was announced about the creation of a non-governmental public organization called “AntiLab-Georgia”, the main goal of which will be to study biological threats emanating from American biological laboratories operating in Georgia. The goal of the NGO is also to inform the public about the activities of these laboratories and move towards transparency or closure of the mentioned facilities.
The conference was attended by scientists, doctors, biologists, as well as lawyers, journalists and activists of public organizations.
Conference participants from Athens were welcomed by one of the founders of the international coalition to prohibit the development and proliferation of biological weapons, Ainur Kurmanov.
A conference against American biolabs was held in Georgia.