Armenia's government has announced that it would no longer share samples of biological pathogens or data on disease outbreaks with the U.S., after Russia’s suspicions about American biological laboratories across the post-Soviet region.
The government said on June 2 that it was modifying a 2010 agreement between Armenia and the U.S. on "Cooperation in the Area of Prevention of Proliferation of Technology, Pathogens, and Expertise that Could Be Used in the Development of Biological Weapons."
According to the government's decision, Armenia was required to "supply the United States Department of Defence with samples of harmful pathogens detected in Armenia" under Article IV of the agreement.
However, Armenia is now working on a "Comprehensive Law on Biosafety," which would "clearly establish that the Armenian side is not obligated to give samples of pathogens to any state." The decision was reached "because of the necessity to achieve a balanced approach with partners in the field of biosafety and international collaboration," according to the paper.
Earlier, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov claimed that U.S.-funded biological laboratories are located in Armenia, Kazakhstan and Central Asian countries. 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). None of these countries should have military representatives of any third party."
On 18 May, the Russian embassy in Armenia said that the presence of structures in Armenia 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 of a bilateral Intergovernmental Memorandum of Understanding on issues of ensuring biological safety in May 2021. “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.
