A Russian lawmaker has laid the blame for a deadly outbreak of the H1N1 flu strain spreading across Eastern Europe on the country's Cold War foe, the United States.
Vadim Solovyov, a member of the Communist Party of Russia, told Russian News Service radio in Moscow that America is waging a "bacteriological war" against Russia, and it must be stopped.
The H1N1 flu strain is a virus, however, not a bacteria, as Solovyov alleged.
"This wave [of H1N1] came from Ukraine. And I don't rule out that it was the Americans there who started this situation, launching such a war against our country," Sovolyov said.
He called on Russia's intelligence services, the health ministry and the Prosecutor General to investigate whether American agents intentionally spread the virus, as he claimed for years they had done in Cuba from the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay.
Dozens of people have died in recent days from an outbreak of the of H1N1 flu strain, commonly known as swine flu, that is currently sweeping across Eastern Europe.
On Tuesday, Health officials in Ukraine reported the flu had taken the lives of 83 people. Their Russian counterparts said 50 had died there. Both countries declared epidemics.
Some 18 people are reported to have been killed by flu in nearby Armenia. More deaths have been recorded in neighboring Georgia and Kazakhstan.
A(H1N1) virus represents about 80% of #influenza A viruses this season, & more likely to cause severe disease in younger, healthy adults— WHO Ukraine (@WHOUkraine) January 23, 2016
Citizens of both countries have been advised by health officials to avoid public transport when possible and wear face masks to help prevent infection. Schools in some regions of Ukraine have been closed for more than a week. Ukrainian police have quarantined the area surrounding a pig farm they think could be a source of the virus.
Authorities said more quarantines could be introduced in Ukrainian regions hit with the flu the hardest, Sviatoslav Protas, chairman of the State Sanitary and Epidemiological Service of Ukraine, said in a statement released by the country's health ministry.
The cash-starved ministry, which urged citizens to go out and buy their own medicines, such as Tamiflu and Relenza, said it had received more of the drugs from the Lithuanian government on Wednesday.
In Russia, reports indicate the city of St. Petersburg has been hit the hardest, with 30 people killed by the flu. At least 17 people died from the flu in Kramatorsk, a government-controlled city near the front lines of Ukraine's ongoing war against Russian-backed separatists in the country's eastern regions.
Ukrainian health officials said the actual number of deaths is likely higher, because it is difficult to obtain information and health records from the separatist-held regions.
The H1N1 virus is a strain of flu that is particularly hard on young people. A worldwide pandemic in 2009 is believed to have killed around 284,000 people.
Nedret Emiroglu, director of communicable diseases and health security for the World Health Organization (WHO) regional office in Europe, said the 2009 strain now circulates seasonally, and the current flu vaccine will protect against it.