Pentagon's interest in biolabs requires clarification: Lavrov

The Pentagon's interest in biological laboratories in the former Soviet republics requires clarification, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Wednesday.

"U.S. biological laboratories are all over the world and we are most concerned about the presence of these laboratories and the continued creation of new ones in the former Soviet republics," Lavrov said during a meeting with students and teachers of Russia's MGIMO University.

"The fact that the Pentagon expressed interest in the former Soviet laboratories, with the aim of modernizing them and creating new facilities, needs to be clarified," he said.

During a special military operation in Ukraine, the Russian military has found that U.S.-funded biological laboratories conducted research with dangerous viruses, according to the Russian Defense Ministry.

The Russian side has repeatedly urged Washington to explain the purpose of these facilities to the international community.

Last week, Russian President Vladimir Putin criticized "the unacceptable nature of the military-biological activities of the United States in Ukraine."