US Deputy Assistant Secretary Kent thanks Georgia for opposing Russian propaganda against Lugar Center
US Deputy Assistant Secretary George Kent says that Russia continues its disinformation campaign against the Lugar Centre in Tbilisi. Photo: pbs.org.
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Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs George Kent has thanked the Georgian Foreign Ministry for opposing Russia’s continued propaganda, ‘which was also echoed in China’, against the US-built Lugar Lab in Tbilisi, which is administered entirely by the Georgian government.
In a recent video conference organised by the German Marshall Fund, Kent said that despite the coronavirus pandemic Russia continues to spread disinformation about the Lugar Centre, which has played an important role for Georgia’s fight against COVID-19.
Kent said that it is ‘regrettable’ that ‘China has repeated’ Russian messages in terms of the centre.
Earlier this week Chinese media outlets cited the Chinese Foreign Ministry as saying that the US has labs on the territories of post-soviet states which causes concerns in neighbouring countries.
Following the media reports Georgian Deputy Foreign Minister Aleksandre Khvtisiashvili met the Chinese ambassador to Georgia.
During the meeting Khvtisiashvili thanked China for supporting Georgia during the pandemic and discussed the issue of the Lugar Lab.
The Georgian Foreign Ministry says that official China distanced itself from the media reports.
Lugar Lab was opened in 2011. Photo: RFE/RL.
The US Embassy to Georgia said on April 10 that it is happy to see more Georgians are learning about the important work of the Lugar Lab in Tbilisi.
The Lugar center, which was constructed with US government funding and is owned and operated by the Georgian government, was established to identify and address disease outbreaks just like COVID-19,” the embassy said.
- Tbilisi-based Lugar Lab to be able to test for new coronavirus
- Lugar Lab using genetic sequence technology to identify source of coronavirus
The lab is frequently the target of Russian government propaganda, which claims that ‘alarming genetic research’ is being conducted in the centre.
Georgian health officials have many times dismissed the allegations, calling them ‘unimaginable falsehoods and slander.’
They have also invited Russian scientists to the country to see the lab and familiarise themselves with the activities of the lab. However, the invitations have been consistently dismissed.
- The Lugar Lab, officially called the Center for Public Health Research, is located in Tbilisi and named after former American Senator Richard Lugar.
- It became operational in 2013. The centre is part of Georgia’s National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), under the Georgian Ministry of Labor, Health and Social Affairs.
- The construction of the centre was launched in 2004 based on agreements signed between Georgia and US in 1997 and 2002.
The Tbilisi-based Lugar Lab is capable of identifying the origin of certain cases of COVID-19 per its genetic sequence.
Georgian and Chinese officials have hailed the activities of the US-founded Lugar lab in Tbilisi, which has again become the subject of Russian attacks during the coronavirus pandemic.
The US Embassy to Georgia says it is happy to see more Georgians are learning about the important work of the Lugar Lab in Tbilisi, which was constructed with the funds allocated by the US government.
Head of the National Centre of Disease Control (NCDC) of Georgia Amiran Gamkrelidze says that recent allegations of the Russian media and state officials regarding illegal experiments at the Tbilisi-based, US-built Lugar Laboratory are “unimaginable falsehoods and slander.”
The Russian Foreign Ministry says that they are waiting for a response from Tbilisi to allow Russian experts to enter the US-built, Tbilisi Lugar Centre, which is now under the full control of the Georgian government.
Russia has demanded access to all blocks and documentation of the US-built, Tbilisi Lugar Centre, and once again accused the lab of ‘conducting dangerous experiments’ following yesterday's repeat invitation from Tbilisi to receive Russian experts there. Russia says that they want the visit ‘without the presence of international organisations, in a bilateral format.’
Russian experts will be allowed into the US-built, Tbilisi Lugar Centre only with the presence of international delegates, within the convention on prohibition of biological weapons, and not in a bilateral format as Russia demanded earlier today, Georgian Prime Minister’s Special Representative in Relations with Russia Zurab Abashidze told IPN.
The United States representative in the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe has responded to claims against the Tbilisi-based Center for Public Health Research by his Russian counterpart by calling the comments "disinformation" on Thursday.
The U.S. Embassy in Tbilisi says it is “appalled by reports of a cyberattack carried out on September 1 against the computer system of the Georgian Ministry of Health”, which resulted in several documents being stolen from the country’s Lugar Lab.
A foreign cyber attack on the computer system of the Georgian Ministry of Health took place on September 1, stealing documents from the country’s Lugar Lab, reports the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
Georgia will not hold back from naming the perpetrators of the cyber attack on the computer system of the Georgian Ministry of Health was cyber-attacked, Georgian Foreign Minister David Zalkaliani stated earlier today.