A report coming from The Gateway Pundit [1] raises a lot of questions regarding the back-and-forth taking place about the narrative surrounding U.S.-funded biolabs in Ukraine, as the Russian Permanent Representative at to the United Nations Security Council claims that signatures from the head of the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) in Kiev gives credence to Russia’s claims of such biolabs.
On March 18th, Russia’s Vassily Nebenzia challenged the allegations coming from the United States [2] and Western allies during a meeting before the United Nations Security Council, where the U.S. has asserted that Russia’s claims of military biological programs taking place in Ukraine is merely propaganda and disinformation.
Nebenzia proclaimed [3] that the U.S. Department of Defense had “delegated broad authorities” to a contractor that the U.S. is well in cahoots with, Black & Veatch, to cooperate with Ukrainian authorities. From there, Nebenzia alleged that Pentagon personnel – not Ukrainians – were conducting experiments on dangerous pathogens.
Per Black & Veatch’s website [4], it was noted that the DTRA “awarded” the contractor with “one of its Biological Threat Reduction Integrating Contracts,” as well as awarding Black & Veatch “the first task order under BTRIC, BTRIC TO1 in Ukraine in 2008.”
The way Nebenzia phrased it, he claimed the United States was conducting dangerous experiments abroad that they wouldn’t dare conduct on their homeland.
“Simply speaking, Ukrainian authorities gave Pentagon a carte blanche and let them carry out dangerous biological experiments on the territory of Ukraine. Thereby, the American contractor was exempt from any taxes under Ukrainian legislation.”
But what was of particular interest was Nebenzia’s response to allegations that documents Russia has provided as evidence to their claims is somehow propaganda or misinformation, telling critics and skeptics many of these documents bore the signature of officials like Joanna Wintrol, who runs the show at the DTRA office in Kiev’s U.S. Embassy.
“Western media, who readily perceive any fakes presented by Ukrainian authorities with the support of their Western sponsors, doubt the authenticity of the materials published by our Ministry of Defense. In this regard, let me draw your attention to the following fact: all documents we published had been signed by real U.S. officials.
“Many of them were signed by head of the DTRA office at the U.S. Embassy in Kiev, Joanna Wintrall. This representative of the Pentagon is well known in the non-proliferation circles. Prior to Ukraine, she addressed elimination of chemical weapons in Libya. If journalists have doubts as to the authenticity of documents that we shared, I suggest they ask her directly whether this is really her signature on them.”
While these documents allegedly bear Wintrall’s signature, back in August of 2020, as Wintrall was close to wrapping up her assignment at the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv, she proclaimed in an interview [5] that Russia has been notorious for misrepresenting their efforts in Ukraine.
“For over a decade, Russia has disseminated false information about [the Biological Threat Reduction] program, aiming to drive a wedge between the United States and Ukraine. In reality, this is a joint program between our two nations, based in legal agreements. And all of the participating laboratories and institutions are controlled and managed by the Ukrainian government. No U.S. scientists work in these labs.”