In Washington, D.C., the U.S. Air Force is defending its reasons for collecting biomaterial samples from Russians after Russian President Vladimir Putin brought up his concerns about it at a meeting of the Council for Human Rights and questioning the purposes of the research. The Spokesman for Air Education and Training Command, Capt. Beau Downey, told Sputnik that “the researchers are using the samples to conduct musculoskeletal research aimed at identifying the different biomarkers associated with injury and were not targeting Russians with the study.”
“The study required two sets of samples for disease and control groups. The first set of samples was procured from a U.S.-based company that was able to provide the number and type of samples to meet the research requirements (fresh frozen synovial fluid/tissue/RNA),” Downey told Sputnik. “To continue the research, similar samples were required,” and noted that the researchers did not stipulate to the company where the samples must originate.