Disinfo: Components of biological weapons were being created in Ukraine

Summary

During the current special operation in Ukraine, documentary evidence was obtained that, in violation of the Convention on the Prohibition of Biological and Toxic Weapons, components of biological weapons were actually being created in the vicinity of Russia’s borders.

Disproof

Recurrent pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about biological weapons being secretly developed by the US in countries bordering Russia. This narrative is a leitmotif in a years-old disinformation campaign conducted by the Kremlin and is currently deployed in an attempt to justify Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.

Some of the most bizarre and yet enduring Kremlin disinformation narratives have been those accusing the West of running clandestine biological research programmes to wreak havoc around the world. In reality, all laboratories located in Ukraine are controlled by the Ukrainian government and don’t carry out military research. In August 2005, the US and Ukrainian governments made an agreement to prevent the spread of dangerous pathogens and relevant expertise and to diminish potential biological risks. Partially, this agreement was aimed at modernising state laboratories in Odesa, Kyiv, Kharkiv, Kherson, Dnipropetrovsk and other regions, consisting of upgrading lab equipment and repairs of premises.

The US Embassy in Ukraine previously addressed the claims about supposed bio-military labs in Ukraine, stating that this is a fabricated accusation in pro-Kremlin propaganda that aims to hinder the ongoing U.S.-Ukrainian partnership to reduce biological threats. The accusations are part of the Kremlin’s broader, long-lasting disinformation campaign to discredit the US in the eyes of Putin’s pro-Western neighbours such as Georgia and Ukraine.

See other examples of similar disinformation narratives in our database, such as claims that Russia presented evidence of US biolabs in Ukraine at the Convention on biological weapons, that US develop biological weapons at the border with Russia, that new evidence of US military-biological activity emerged in Ukraine, that Zelenskyy ordered the destruction of evidence regarding the development of biological weapons, or that bio-experiments in US labs turned Ukrainian soldiers into ‘most cruel monsters’.

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geworld.ge (Archived)
  • Reported in: Issue 314
  • DATE OF PUBLICATION: 21/10/2022
  • Article language(s) Georgian
  • Countries and/or Regions discussed in the disinformation: Russia, Ukraine, US
  • Keywords: Biological weapons, laboratory
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Oct 20, 2022
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Oct 20, 2022
Disproof

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Oct 20, 2022
Disproof

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