Hunter Biden Accused by Russia of Helping Finance Ukraine Biolabs

The Russian government on Thursday accused Hunter Biden's investment fund of helping bankroll the Pentagon's alleged biolabs in Ukraine.

Igor Kirillov, the head of Russia's Radiation, Chemical and Biological Defence Troops, said the investment firm Biden is connected to, Rosemont Seneca, has been implicated in financing the biological program in Ukraine, Russian state-owned news agency Sputnik reported.

"Incoming materials have allowed us to trace the scheme of interaction between U.S. government bodies and Ukraine's biolabs," Kirillov said. He added that Rosemont Seneca attracted attention due to an alleged "close relationship" between the fund and key suppliers for "Pentagon biolaboratories around the world." According to the Ministry of Defense's information, the fund has at least $2.4 billion in investment capital, Sputnik reported.

However, the U.S. government has previously investigated Sputnik as a propaganda outlet. The U.S. Department of State said in its January report that the Kremlin uses the organization, along with the state-funded Russia Today outlet, to try and spread disinformation and propaganda to audiences outside of Russia in order to "influence the public opinion and foreign policy in favor of the Kremlin's political goals."

The Russian Defense Ministry released a diagram on Thursday titled "Coordination of Biological Laboratories and Scientific Research Centers of Ukraine and the U.S.," according to a translation from the Daily Beast. The chart detailed how Ukraine Biolabs are allegedly connected to U.S. agencies and other companies, including President Joe Biden's son.

The agency said it has found information for 31 Pentagon-funded biolabs that allegedly conduct illegal research. The Russian Defense Ministry released pictures of what it claims to be a Ukrainian document with a list of the laboratories that are suspected of being connected to U.S. funding for biological activities, according to Sputnik.

"The scale of the program is impressive," Kirillov said in the Sputnik report, adding that along with the Pentagon, the U.S. Agency for International Development, the Soros' Open Society Foundations and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention were among those involved in the research.

Sputnik said U.S. officials and Western media initially denied that the biolabs existed but that a senior official in President Joe Biden's administration later confirmed their presence. Meanwhile, Democratic Representative Tulsi Gabbard had previously said that the U.S. funds biolabs in Ukraine, not bioweapons labs.

Long before the invasion of Ukraine, Russian officials claimed that the U.S. had biolabs to study harmful weapons and diseases in the country. The Russian government started its claims again recently, which prompted White House press secretary Jen Psaki to say that the world needs to prepare for Russia to use these claims as a reason to use its own biological weapons in Ukraine.

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Update 3/24/22, 4:25 p.m. ET: This article was updated with additional information.