The US wants to harness the power of dangerous biological agents and manage artificial epidemics by conducting illegal research in biolabs across the globe, the Russian embassy in Washington has claimed.

In a statement on Thursday, the embassy recalled that Moscow has repeatedly sounded the alarm about what it called “gross violations by the United States of its obligations” under the Biological Weapons Convention which bans this type of armament, and has been signed by virtually all countries in the world, including Russia and the US.

However, “Washington ignores the claims, justifying itself by some humanitarian component of its programs,” the embassy said, claiming that such excuses have nothing to do with reality.

In a bid to enhance the pathogenic capabilities of infections, the US “brazenly and with complete impunity scatters its illegal laboratories all over the world” under the guise of “epidemiological monitoring,” with many of those facilities located in Russia’s neighborhood, the statement charged.

The task is obvious – to be able to create biological crises when needed. To form artificial centers of infections. In other words, to manage epidemics, putting them at the service of [Washington’s] own interests.

The embassy specifically highlighted American biological activities in Ukraine, where it said Washington “has drawn dozens of country’s state institutions and private companies into its projects,” with civilians and military personnel alike being used as donors of biomaterial and as test subjects.

“There is no doubt that such actions require appropriate legal assessment, including by competent international institutions,” it added.

Russia has repeatedly raised concerns about US biological research, with Moscow’s Defense Ministry suggesting earlier this week that Washington was working with highly contagious and dangerous pathogens to prepare for a potential new pandemic. Last autumn, Russia floated a resolution in the UN calling for a probe into the activities of American laboratories in Ukraine, which was vetoed by the US and its NATO allies Britain and France.

Last March, responding to the accusations of biological weapons development in Ukraine, the White House dismissed Moscow’s claims as “classic Russian propaganda.” However, a few months later, the Pentagon admitted that it had been supporting 46 Ukrainian laboratories, while insisting that all its joint programs “focused on improving public health and agricultural safety.”