Parliament Speaker: no questions about “transparent” Lugar Lab
Papuashvili noted Russian allegations about the laboratory were only the latest in a history of accusations from authorities in Moscow. Photo: 1tv.ge
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The Lugar Laboratory, a Tbilisi-based research centre, is “transparent” and there are no question marks about it, Georgian Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili said on Friday in comments on recent allegations originating in Russia and concerning the biological research facility.
Papuashvili was responding to statements on Tuesday from official Moscow that claimed African Swine Fever was bred in the Georgian facility, which is a part of the National Centre for Disease Control.
Papuashvili noted Russian allegations about the laboratory were only the latest in a history of accusations from authorities in Moscow.
This is not the first, [or a] new statement [...] about the Lugar Lab, and we have responded to it many times. The Lugar Lab is transparent and there are no question marks in this regard, the Parliament Speaker said.
Officially called the Center for Public Health Research, the research facility is located in Tbilisi and named after former American Senator Richard Lugar. The construction of the centre was launched in 2004 based on agreements signed between Georgia and the United States in 1997 and 2002.
Becoming operational in 2013, the Centre is part of Georgia’s National Centre for Disease Control, under the Georgian Health Ministry.
Georgian media outlets have received files allegedly leaked from the country’s State Security Service (SSS), which contain personal data on clerics. The media outlets received a link to the files earlier today from ‘Hakim Pasha,’ titled 'Georgian State Security Sevice’s compromising materials against Patriarchate.’
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.
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Governments of 10 countries, including Georgia, on Monday released a joint statement reaffirming the transparency and significance of their partnerships in biological threat reduction for global health security, stressing the cooperative efforts are “devoted exclusively to peaceful purposes and have nothing to do with weapons”.