Russian officials, experts against politicizing virus origin tracing

Russian officials and experts are strongly against politicizing coronavirus origin tracing. /CFP

Russian politicians and experts have strongly opposed politicizing the coronavirus origin tracing, saying that such a move could have a devastating effect on the global fight against the pandemic.

At the Informal Economic Leaders' Retreat of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation earlier in July, Russian President Vladimir Putin urged the international community to join forces in the fight against COVID-19 pandemic to speed up global vaccination efforts and revive the economy.

The Russian leader emphasized that Moscow will never attempt to politicize international cooperation on fighting COVID-19 in earlier statements.

At a press conference following the meeting of the BRICS Ministers of Foreign Affairs held in June, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that Western countries are attempting to politicize issues related to coronavirus origin tracing, which does nothing to help global cooperation against COVID-19.

"Politicians should not strive to score points and increase their popularity by speculating about the COVID-19 situation," he said. "It is clear to us that everyone needs to come together and focus on combating this global challenge instead of pointing fingers."

Prominent Russian virologists and researchers agree with this stance and have pointed out the natural origin of the virus.

"All studies show that the virus mutates naturally. All the changes within it are natural; at least, they completely fit into the mutation scheme that is known in virology," said Larisa Popovich, director of the Institute for Health Economics at Russia's National Research University Higher School of Economics.

Dmitry Lvov, a Russian virologist and expert at the World Health Organization (WHO),said there is no doubt that the novel coronavirus has a natural origin.

"I am a scientist. I don't believe hearsay. I only deal with facts. What I know is the antibodies of coronavirus have been found in people in many parts of the world before the outbreak," Lvov told CGTN in an interview.

He said the main discussions about COVID-19 origins are not conducted by specialists and professionals but by political scientists who try to pursue their own interests.

"It is difficult for me to comprehend the actions and statements that come from the WHO. Different kinds of people work there, and they are under great pressure, including from the United States," he said.

Other experts and officials said Western disinformation campaigns that promote the Wuhan lab leak theory not only hinder global anti-virus efforts but are intended to deflect attention from other theories.

International affairs columnist Mikhail Morozov said it was striking that "studies proving the man-made nature of the new coronavirus began to appear as if on command," adding that evidence of the Wuhan lab leak theory was groundless, contradictory and lacks reliable sources.

"All this suggests that the West tries to use every possibility to accuse China of spreading the infection, or at least, they are using the global tragedy for their own political goals or to divert attention from other theories," Morozov said.

RIA Novosti columnist Victoria Nikiforova wrote that following the sudden closure of the U.S. military biological laboratory at Fort Detrick in 2019, a strange lung disease epidemic emerged in the United States in September that year, where symptoms of the disease strongly resembled the disease caused by the coronavirus, or COVID-19 as its was so named by the WHO in February 2020.

The laboratory was closed due to some kind of a leak, and there is no information about what has escaped, where and in what quantities, Nikiforova said, adding it is a well-known fact that some of the most dangerous viruses and bacteria on the planet were stored and researched there.

The theory has resonated with some officials as well.

Vyacheslav Volodin, chairman of Russian parliament's lower house, urged the government to study it.

"The U.S. laboratories where scientists study, explore and maybe even create new biological weapons" are now located in some parts of Eastern Europe, and "that must be taken under control," he said.

Pavel Feldman, deputy director of the Institute for Strategic Studies and Forecasts of the Peoples' Friendship University of Russia, pointed out how the blame against China advances U.S. geopolitical goals.

"There is a clear large-scale campaign against China. These accusations have become part of a large political game in the international arena where the West sees China as a challenge," Feldman said.

(With input from Xinhua News Agency)