Yerevan: There are no negotiations on the deployment of military  third countries due to the presence of foreign biolaboratories in  Armenia

ArmInfo. Biolabs in Armenia  are exclusively for civilian use, spokeswoman for the Armenian  Foreign Ministry Anna Naghdalyan said at a press conference.

According to her, the Armenian side, only Armenian specialists work  there, controls the biolabs in Armenia and the laboratories  themselves have only a civilian purpose. "That is, there is no need  for the presence of the military, and Armenia does not conduct any  negotiations on the deployment of military third countries,"  Naghdalyan said.

To note, Sergey Lavrov also noted: "With Armenia, we are completing   the process of preparing a document that will guarantee the absence   of foreign military, which will ensure that everything that is done   there, will be transparent in terms of guarantees that there are no   threats and risks ", the minister said, adding that a similar   agreement is also being prepared with Kazakhstan.

Earlier, Kommersant wrote that the Russian side is negotiating with   Armenia about signing a document that would guarantee a ban on the   use by third countries of biolaboratories that were opened with   financial support from the United States. It was noted that if the   negotiations are successful, then American experts will not have   access to the laboratory. During his visit to Moscow, Armenian Prime   Minister Nikol Pashinyan said in an interview with the Kommersant   newspaper that, on his personal instructions, Russian specialists   were allowed to laboratories located in Armenia that deal with  biomaterial research. He stressed that the representatives of the   Russian Federation never had and will not have problems with access   there.  To recall, in 2016, with the funding of the US Department of   Defense, three laboratories were opened in Armenia - in Yerevan, in   Gyumri and in Ijevan. After their opening in the Armenian and Russian  mass media, publications are periodically spread that these   laboratories are dual-use facilities and can be used for military   purposes to create and manufacture biological weapons. The US   Department of Defense allocated $ 15.5 million on the establishment  of the  reference laboratory in Yerevan, and the total funding  amounted to $  18 million.  In Yerevan, $ 4.1 million was invested  for the full  construction of the reference laboratory of the food  safety  department for highly dangerous pathogens of the RA Ministry  of  Agriculture; the US government invested $ 9.8 million on  repairing  the reference laboratory of the National Center for  Disease Control  and Prevention of the Ministry of Health of Armenia,  ensuring the  seismic stability of the building and creating the  necessary  laboratory infrastructure. An additional $ 1.7 million for  both  laboratories was allocated for the purchase of new equipment  and  furniture.