US Air Force Counterproliferation Center, June 2010:

"U.S. Senator Dick Lugar applauded the opening of the Interim Central Reference Laboratory in Odessa, Ukraine, this week, announcing that it will be instrumental in researching dangerous pathogens used by bioterrorists. The level-3 bio-safety lab will be used to study anthrax, tularemia and Q Fever, as well as other dangerous pathogens."

"researching dangerous pathogens used by bioterrorists" in this context almost certainly refers to gain-of-function research. WIV-style research would be bad enough (see if we can make pathogens jump the species barrier and acquire characteristics that pose significant danger to humans), but there's no need for such a proof of concept with anthrax, tularemia and Q Fever because their infectivity and lethality are well established (the US developed weaponized variants of all three prior to signing the Biological Weapons Convention).

I think it's likely the US government was funding and directing the most irresponsible kind of gain-of-function research ("We need to make the worst WMD we can make in order to figure out what's the worst WMD terrorists could make") and doing it overseas to evade oversight.