ArmInfo. Biolabs in Armenia are exclusively for civilian use, spokeswoman for the Armenian Foreign Ministry Anna Naghdalyan said at a press conference.
According to her, the Armenian side, only Armenian specialists work there, controls the biolabs in Armenia and the laboratories themselves have only a civilian purpose. "That is, there is no need for the presence of the military, and Armenia does not conduct any negotiations on the deployment of military third countries," Naghdalyan said.
To note, Sergey Lavrov also noted: "With Armenia, we are completing the process of preparing a document that will guarantee the absence of foreign military, which will ensure that everything that is done there, will be transparent in terms of guarantees that there are no threats and risks ", the minister said, adding that a similar agreement is also being prepared with Kazakhstan.
Earlier, Kommersant wrote that the Russian side is negotiating with Armenia about signing a document that would guarantee a ban on the use by third countries of biolaboratories that were opened with financial support from the United States. It was noted that if the negotiations are successful, then American experts will not have access to the laboratory. During his visit to Moscow, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said in an interview with the Kommersant newspaper that, on his personal instructions, Russian specialists were allowed to laboratories located in Armenia that deal with biomaterial research. He stressed that the representatives of the Russian Federation never had and will not have problems with access there. To recall, in 2016, with the funding of the US Department of Defense, three laboratories were opened in Armenia - in Yerevan, in Gyumri and in Ijevan. After their opening in the Armenian and Russian mass media, publications are periodically spread that these laboratories are dual-use facilities and can be used for military purposes to create and manufacture biological weapons. The US Department of Defense allocated $ 15.5 million on the establishment of the reference laboratory in Yerevan, and the total funding amounted to $ 18 million. In Yerevan, $ 4.1 million was invested for the full construction of the reference laboratory of the food safety department for highly dangerous pathogens of the RA Ministry of Agriculture; the US government invested $ 9.8 million on repairing the reference laboratory of the National Center for Disease Control and Prevention of the Ministry of Health of Armenia, ensuring the seismic stability of the building and creating the necessary laboratory infrastructure. An additional $ 1.7 million for both laboratories was allocated for the purchase of new equipment and furniture.