According to the Russian Defense Ministry, cultures of mosquitoes infected with the hepatitis B virus have reportedly already been created. Igor Kirilov, the head of the Radiological, Chemical, and Biological Defense Troops of the Russian Armed Forces, has accused the United States of attempting to develop disease-carrying insects whose pathogens do not spread in nature, such as Ebola, HIV, and hepatitis B.
Kirilov said that cultures of mosquitoes infected with the hepatitis B virus have been successfully obtained, noting that this work is being carried out in US Department of Defense organizations both at home and in six foreign affiliates. According to the senior official, this allows them to maintain and infect 89 species of mosquitoes and 12 species of ticks with arboviruses in the laboratory. Kirilov suggested that the United States intends to use the territory of other countries as a testing ground for possible scenarios.
In addition, he mentioned that the patenting of an unmanned aerial vehicle designed to spread infected mosquitoes through the air demonstrates the high technical level of US preparedness for the use of infected vectors. Kirilov also stressed that Washington’s research with disease-carrying insects has a military and applied focus.
The senior official warned that the breach of the dam at the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant and the resulting floods in Kherson province could complicate the situation, especially in terms of arbovirus infections. He noted that there could be outbreaks of mosquito-borne diseases, such as West Nile fever, after the water level recedes.
Kirilov also mentioned that the increase in incidents in US biolabs is one of the reasons why this type of work has moved to Ukraine and other countries. This, according to him, would explain the worsening of the epidemic situation in the areas where the laboratories are located and the appearance of unusual diseases and vectors in those regions.