Zakharova: Moscow and Baku are in contact on biosafety issues

Given the allied nature of relations between Russia and Azerbaijan and the historically established common biosecurity space, Russia is very attentive to any signals coming from Azerbaijan, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said this in response to the request of the Moscow Bureau of Report to comment on official Moscow's assertions about the presence of American biological laboratories in Azerbaijan.

"We are very attentive to any signals coming in this regard and are ready to consider them within the framework of the partnership dialogue that we are developing with Baku," Zakharova said.

Earlier it was reported that in early April in New York, Russia initiated hearings within the framework of the UN Security Council on threats to international peace and security, posed by military biological activities in various regions of the globe, during which it announced the presence of US biological laboratories in the South Caucasus, including in Azerbaijan.

According to Zakharova, this meeting in the Security Council, according to the Arria formula, was informal. She explained the situation: “This is an important nuance to understand. I cannot accept this interpretation either. The very fact of the presence of national biolaboratories is not something reprehensible, because there are biolaboratories in any country that has its own healthcare.”

The diplomat noted that the question is "who, how and for what purposes, that is, how clear and transparent, on the basis of what legislation, they carry out their developments there."

“When we raised the issue of biological laboratories in Ukraine and not only there, we said that biological laboratories are under the control of another state that does not border that country. And the issue of biosafety is of critical importance,” the Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson concluded.