Rospotrebnadzor: African swine fever came to Russia from Georgia

10:32 16.07.2013
Georgia

Russia's chief state sanitary doctor Gennady Onishchenko believes that African swine fever, which has caused a loss of livestock in Russian regions, came to Russia from Georgia.

"This is an objectively-established fact," Interfax quotes Onishchenko.

Onishchenko said that a microbiology laboratory of the U.S. Navy, not under the control of the Georgian authorities, continues to work in Georgia.

"The confirmation of the threat is the fact that from 2007 the pathogen of the African swine fever has been actively circulating on the territory of Russia. It has caused enormous economic damage to the southern regions of Russia," Gennady Onishchenko said, noting that the creation of the laboratory on the territory of Georgia required $350 million. "My concern is that the lab is beyond the control of the Georgian authorities. The laboratory has been established in the former Soviet military base near Tbilisi. The existence of this lab demonstrates the weakness of the current government of Georgia," the head of Rospotrebnadzor said.

"We have to spend money in order to assist our allies, South Ossetia and Abkhazia, to strengthen the capacity in real-life bio-security," Onishchenko said.

Adapted from Vestnik Kavkaza

 

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