So Nuland says bad things may happen if the Russians get their hands on them. Why? Probably because the contents in the "test tubes" being researched there were not being used to make Ukrainian wheat grow stronger. They were dangerous materials.
Well, the article states:
"That program began in the 1990s, after the fall of the Soviet Union, which maintained an expansive bioweapons program. Two U.S. senators, Sam Nunn and Richard Lugar, began worrying about a network of those laboratories that were now the responsibility of newly independent governments with little expertise in biosafety."
So, what the original purpose of the labs was, isn't exactly being kept secret.
Why were the contents of those biolabs not completely destroyed or moved before the Russian invasion? Total failure of protocol. Who's responsible? What will we learn from this? If the Russians get their hands on these labs are we going to hope the behaviour and humanity of Russians to do the right thing? Some journalist, somewhere should be asking these questions. Maybe Mr. Ling will do a followup article
Perhaps reading something between the lines that I don't see.
"In its earliest form, the program sent American experts into labs throughout Europe to help local scientists identify dangerous pathogens, and either destroy or better secure them. New labs were built, security protocols were established and staff were trained.
Over time, as the bulk of the bioweapons program was dismantled — "we got rid of what we could co-operatively get rid of," Moore said — the program turned its attention to figuring out how to better monitor and prepare for infectious disease outbreaks.
That included helping those former Soviet states and satellites safely store viruses and bacteria collected from nature."
So, it looks to me that there is no nefarious reason for the labs not being completely dismantled. Up until the Russians actually invaded, it seemed that nobody* believed they would, so why would they dismantle the labs?
The purpose of the article was to expose the nonsense surrounding supposed US - funded Ukrainian bioweapons labs, which I think it thoroughly does. It explains how they were started up in the first place and why they currently exist. I'm not sure what a followup article would be based on.
*It seemed that only Biden was insisting that the Russians were planning to invade, for which
he was called a warmonger.