Russia must be in the know on foreign labs dealing with biomaterials "health official"

The possibilities of modifying genomes and microorganisms are rather extensive today, so for security concerns Russia should be on top of the activities of the biological laboratories situated along its state borders. Head of the Federal Service for Surveillance on Consumer Rights Protection and Human Wellbeing and Russian Chief Sanitation Officer Anna Popova informed a TASS press conference on Wednesday.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin earlier told TASS that Moscow is ready to raise the issue of biological laboratories being placed near its borders with the UN.

"Today’s technologies are so top-notch, so advanced and provide so many prospects for genome, microorganism and macroorganism changes that it is just impossible to put up with what is going on near our borders nowadays, because the published data that some international organizations unfortunately have deemed unnecessary to comment on - they definitely demand explanations and clarification. Furthermore, we must ensure that whatever is going on there is safe for our country," Popova said.

Russia received no additional information on the work of these laboratories, she said. The official added that the issue concerns the situations "that we are seeing in some states bordering the Russian Federation, as well as in states far from our borders, but are definitely influenced by the same structures, in particular the US Department of Defense, where these laboratories are built." "These are not just neighboring countries, but many countries throughout the world, which carry out monitoring and some work unknown to anyone in the world and unaccountable to anyone," the Russian watchdog’s head said.