When asked whether it is necessary to increase the number of units of the Radiation, Chemical and Biological Protection Troops in southern Russia, he answered in the negative.

MOSCOW, October 4. /TASS/. Russia will take diplomatic and military measures in response to an extensive US military-biological program in several countries neighboring Russia, in particular Georgia, Chairman of Russia’s State Duma (lower house of parliament) Defense Committee and former Commander of the Russian Airborne Troops Vladimir Shamanov told TASS on Thursday.

"There is no need yet to increase [the number] of such units there. However, it is obvious that a number of measures will be taken at the national level," the lawmaker stressed.

"We cannot just turn a blind eye, knowing that something, which directly affects security on the southern borders, is happening there. We will take diplomatic and military measures," he confirmed.

According to Shamanov, the State Duma Defense Committee has recommended the concerned Russian agencies to appeal to the UN and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), asking for an inspection of the Lugar laboratory in Georgia, where ammunition for chemical and biological weapons is stored.

"All these measures are being taken. After a news conference of Georgia’s former State Security Minister Igor Giorgadze, the State Duma Defense Committee has also reacted to this," Shamanov said. "The committee has asked agencies of the Russian Security Council and the Foreign Ministry to appeal to the UN, the OPCW and other agencies to organize an inspection of the Lugar center with mandatory presence of Russian specialists," he said. "We will be certainly monitoring this issue," he stressed.

On Thursday, chief of Russia’s Radiation, Chemical and Biological Protection Troops, Major General Igor Kirillov, said that the United States had launched a vast military-biological program in the territories of several countries neighboring Russia.

According to Kirillov, the Defense Ministry’s specialists had scrutinized materials made public by Georgia’s former State Security Minister Igor Giorgadze about US activities underway at the Richard Lugar Public Health Research Center in Alekseyevka, near Georgia’s capital Tbilisi. They found out that the Lugar Center was merely a tiny element of the United States’ vast military-biological program. Large-scale activity has been launched in some countries neighboring Russia, where the Pentagon-controlled laboratories are functioning.