American biolaboratories in Georgia

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

In his opinion, the US military structures located on Georgian territory are not under the control of the republic's authorities and are engaged in activities that are prohibited by conventions in the field of biology. Having not received an invitation from the authorities of the republic to begin joint work in this biological laboratory, Armenia, Azerbaijan and Iran expressed their claims to the country, relations with which Georgia had been building for many centuries.

The Lugar Research Center is called one of the most closed in Georgia. Built in the republic in 5 years with US money, it was overgrown with legends right after its appearance. Locals wondered: why would America allocate $ 270 million to open a laboratory in another country?

Many suspect that the US wasted this amount for a reason. One of the most common assumptions is that in Georgia, the Americans may produce biological and chemical weapons. The great interest of the United States in this institution on Georgian territory is also evidenced by the rank of the guests who came to the official opening of the center. Thus, the event was attended by the US Deputy Secretary of Defense for Nuclear, Chemical and Biological Defense Programs Andrew Weber. Half of the research center's staff are military specialists.

Such close attention from the United States cannot but worry the Georgian population, says the former Minister of State Security of Georgia Valery Khaburdzania:

It does not inspire confidence among the population, because the Americans did not show any interest in the Georgian economy and suddenly became interested in some biological strains and carried out some secret operations. Suspicions are also raised by the fact that the military is still working there. Why the military is working at a civilian facility is still unknown.

All this only gives rise to rumors among the local population. The spread of bird flu in 2011, the measles epidemic at the end of 2012, swine plague in 2013. Residents of Georgia associate all this with the existence of the laboratory. Some media even reported that the Americans are experiencing the effects of certain viruses on the Georgian population.

The official version that the research center has nothing to do with this and that in general the United States built a center in Georgia just to monitor the epidemiological state in the republic, today almost no one believes, says the Georgian political scientist Archil Chkoidze:

My father lives in the village. And I can tell you with full responsibility: every year hundreds of pigs die from the local population. Moreover, the cause of death is this very virus, which, as they say in the government, has not been recorded in Georgia for several years. So I think it is necessary to study the origin of this virus. Moreover, it is desirable if we do this in collaboration with Russian specialists. After all, both we and they should know: where did this virus come from.

Archil Chkoidze was even more suspicious of the statement of the head of the laboratories Gii Kamkamidzethat African swine fever has not been recorded in the country for 6 years.

African plague was observed not only in Georgia. There have been variations on this virus. And first of all, this virus hit the pigs on the Georgian side. This virus was not created in Georgia. He came to us from other countries - primarily from Africa.

It is noteworthy that the Georgian laboratory is another link in a single chain of similar institutions built by the Americans in a number of European countries, Thailand, Egypt, Kenya, to spread their influence in geopolitically important regions of the world. Traditionally, being guided only by its own interests in the international arena, the United States does not care how much the Georgian and any other population needs biolaboratory of suspicious and incomprehensible purpose.

Ksenia Melnikova