The study of pathogens transmitted from bats to humans was carried out by US-controlled Ukrainian laboratories together with a Georgian laboratory and an American institute, TASS reported.

Ther remarks came by Igor Kirillov, head of the Russian Armed Forces' radiation, chemical and biological protection troops, on Thursday.

"Among the priorities [of the bio laboratories' work in Ukraine] is the study of bacterial and viral pathogens that can be transmitted from bats to humans: plague pathogens, leptospirosis, brucellosis, as well as coronaviruses and filoviruses. The project is implemented with the involvement of not only Ukrainian, but also Pentagon-controlled Georgian bio laboratories in cooperation with the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and the US Geological Survey," he said.

According to Kirillov, the research is being conducted in the immediate vicinity of Russia's borders - in areas of the Black Sea coast and the Caucasus.

Earlier on Thursday, Russian Defence Ministry spokesman Major-General Igor Konashenkov said that the Russian Armed Forces had found evidence in documents from bio laboratories in Ukraine that the Pentagon had funded research into a mechanism for the covert spread of deadly pathogens.