A couple of weeks after Russia claimed that US has been operating Biological Weapons Research through biological laboratories in Ukraine, Tulsi Gabbard, the outgoing Director of US National Intelligence (DNI), has admitted that Washington DC is funding nearly 120 biolabs in more than 30 countries for conducting research on dangerous biological pathogens.

In a statement released on June 12, 2026, the DNI Office mentioned: “These biolabs include labs in Ukraine, which may be at risk of compromise due to the ongoing Russia-Ukraine War.” It added: “For example, the Intelligence Community previously warned that a US-funded biolab in Ukraine likely housed dangerous pathogens and remained vulnerable to longstanding threats of Russian attack, seizure or damage.“

Interestingly, Gabbard made the revelation just days before her departure as DNI that oversees an intergovernmental office set up to coordinate information sharing among the sprawling US intelligence community. However, it is not clear why she released the information. It may be noted that President Donald John Trump has nominated Jay Clayton as the next DNI and he will replace Gabbard only after getting confirmation from the US Senate.

Gabbard has revealed that the US Government has funded efforts to safeguard Cold War-era research programmes for years under the Cooperative Threat Reduction Programme, stressing that such research is deeply rooted in Soviet-era programmes that developed biological and chemical warfare technologies. Some of those Soviet research facilities are located in Kiev, Tbilisi and other places around the erstwhile Soviet Union.

Earlier, the US media reported that the Trump Administration started reviewing US holdings and files on biolabs funded by Washington DC after banning all federal fundings for gain-of-function research that involves the modification of organisms in order to enhance their biological functions in countries, like China. According to media reports, the US Defence Department has long funded foreign laboratories which conduct research on various diseases.

However, the Kremlin has accused Washington DC of funding biolabs aimed at developing potential biological weapons, despite being a signatory to the Biological Weapons Convention of 1975. As expected, the US has rejected the allegation. In 2023, the US State Department slammed Moscow for “increasing the volume and intensity of its disinformation about biological weapons in an unsuccessful attempt to deflect attention from its invasion of Ukraine, to diminish international support for Ukraine and to justify its unjustifiable war“. Political analysts believe that the US made such an allegation against Russia in an attempt to divert the attention of the global community.

Since returning to the White House in 2025, President Trump has taken a more pointed approach to the issue of biological pathogens, particularly regarding the COVID-19 Pandemic. Proponents of lab-leak theories argue that the coronavirus emerged when Chinese scientists became infected through research-associated activities in a laboratory in Wuhan in November 2019.

The Trump Administration recently stressed that many of the US-funded biolabs conducted research using “hazardous and highly contagious pathogens“, assuring the international community that such actions could not be left “unrestricted“. In May 2025, the US President recently signed an executive order to end federal funding of gain-of-function research across the globe.

Meanwhile,

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Published by Koushik Das

Koushik Das (born on May 16, 1976 in Kolkata) is a career journalist. Based in the Indian capital of New Delhi, Koushik writes mainly about foreign policies and current geopolitical issues, and rarely about other topics. His own political ideas are highly influenced by Antonio Gramsci, Louis Althusser, Michel Foucault, Michael Oakeshott and others. English philosopher and political theorist Oakeshott (Dec 11, 1901-Dec 19, 1990) says that “in political activity, men sail a boundless and bottomless sea. There is neither harbour for shelter nor floor for anchorage, neither starting-place, nor appointed destination. But we have to keep afloat”. (Rationalism in Politics, 1962) As a student of Political Science, Koushik loves to share his views on issues, which have great impacts on his thought process (and also on India, South Asia and of course on the global community), with his readers through his website – Boundless Ocean of Politics. By doing so, he tries to keep himself afloat. You will find some of his articles in https://inserbia.info/today/ (https://inserbia.info/today/author/kou_das13_i/), as he has been trying to assess the global geopolitics since 2003. You can also mail him at kousdas@gmail.com View all posts by Koushik Das