“There are also other problems, such as the production of military oriented biological weapons and the very large funding allocated to this,” Patrushev said. “This is tens of billions of dollars. Additionally, the number of laboratories under US jurisdiction or control has increased 20 times.”

What is more worrying is that some of such laboratories “operated and operate” on CIS soil, said Patrushev.

“This is why the problem is real,” he said.

“We are putting into practice a program to get rid of chemical weapons. Russia will dispose of these weapons by 2020. It was expected that the US will also destroy these weapons by that time, but according to today’s plans, it will carry out the disposal by 2028,” Patrushev told journalists.

In June, the Russian Foreign Ministry accused the US of encircling Russia with bioweapons labs, as well as obstructing international efforts to eradicate biological weapons.

“Joining the EU is not something that can be done in a few months…it involves an intensive and far-reaching transformation process,” German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock told a press conference in Berlin on Monday.

Despite the apparent disunity in the bloc over Ukraine’s membership, European Council President Charles Michel announced on Monday that “We will discuss Ukraine’s membership application in [the] coming days.”😅