US developing biological weapons near China, Russia borders, says Putin's adviser

Russian President Vladimir Putin's chief security adviser Nikolai Patrushev has accused the United States of experimenting with biological weapons in regions near the borders of China and Russia, according to Newsweek.

Patrushev said: "... more and more biological laboratories under US control are growing considerably in the world and by a strange coincidence, mainly along the Russian and Chinese borders."

"Americans help local scientists develop new ways to fight dangerous diseases," said Patrushev, who was formerly the director of Russia's Federal Security Service. He made the comments during an interview with the newspaper Kommersant.

"We and our Chinese partners have questions. We are told that there are peaceful sanitary and epidemiological stations near our borders, but for some reason, they are more reminiscent of Fort Detrick in Maryland, where Americans have been working in the field of military biology for decades."

He added that the authorities in those jurisdictions had "no real idea of what is happening within their walls," and that there were outbreaks "uncharacteristic for these regions" in neighboring areas — although he did not specify any disease.

When asked directly if he believed the Americans are developing biological weapons there, Patrushev said: "We have good reason to believe that this is exactly the case."

A US State Department spokesperson dismissed Patrushev's accusations as "groundless" in a statement, according to Newsweek.