Today some of Armenian media covering the conference on “Medical and Biological Laboratories in Context of Armenia’s Security and Sovereignty” made publications about the “suspicious purpose of US-funded laboratories in Armenia.
In particular, the mentioned sources claim that the reference laboratories opened in Yerevan, Gyumri and Ijevan in 2016 with the funding provided by US Department of Defense’s Defense Threat Reduction Agency-funded can create a biological weapon and use it against the Armenian population, which is Russia’s ally.
The Spokesperson of Armenian Ministry of Health was surprised to hear about such claims and asked for time to verify the information. Later we were informed by the ministry that the aforementioned allegations are not true.
We also contacted the Health Ministry Disease Control and Prevention National Center SNCO. This agency also responded that such allegations are absurd.
Moreover, only Armenians work in that SNCO and all its laboratories. There are no Americans and, moreover, American personnel working in these centers.
Regarding the issue, it is worth noting that the United States have never viewed Armenia as an enemy state, and. Moreover, Armenia is partner country of NATO.
To add, during the last 7 years Armenian health sector has received a total of 51 million USD-worth property from the USAID Office and the World Bank.
P.S. Note that the conference was held in the same building where the Russian “Sputnik” Agency’s Armenian office is located, and the aforementioned publications were made by pro-Russian media.