Disinfo: US instructed the Lugar Lab to create biological weapon to target South Ossetian population

Summary

US Army’s managers instructed the Lugar Lab to develop biological weapons that will target the South Ossetian population. The Lugar Lab was also instructed to conduct operations aimed at destroying the livestock by spreading epizootic disease.

Disproof

Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about the Tbilisi-based Lugar Lab. The U.S Embassy in Georgia officially addressed the conspiracy theories behind the Richard Lugar Centre as "nonsense and typical of Russian misinformation and propaganda campaigns." The Richard Lugar Centre for Public Health Research is a facility of the National Centre for Disease Control and Public Health (NCDC), which became operational in August 2013. The Lugar centre is a top-tiered institution in NCDC’s laboratory network and serves as a reference laboratory for Georgia’s public health system. Under no circumstances has this laboratory been designed or redesigned to build biological weapons. Read similar disinformation cases about Lugar Lab intentionally infecting South Ossetians with COVID-19 and EUMM collecting biological materials for the Lugar Lab and dangerous experiments.

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sputnik-ossetia.ru (Archived)
  • Reported in: Issue 201
  • DATE OF PUBLICATION: 09/06/2020
  • Outlet language(s) Russian
  • Countries and/or Regions discussed in the disinformation: Georgia, US
  • Keywords: Lugar Laboratory, Biological weapons, Conspiracy theory
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Disinfo: NATO is an American puppet 

NATO is an American puppet.

Jun 08, 2020
Disproof

Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about NATO as a geopolitical project of the US.

NATO was founded in 1949 by twelve sovereign nations including the United States. It has since grown to 30 Allies who each took an individual and sovereign decision to join this Alliance. All decisions in NATO are taken by consensus, after discussion and consultation among member countries, which means that a decision can only be taken if every single member accepts it.

Disinfo: US tests ethnic weapons against Slavs in its biolabs in Ukraine

The US built 8 biological laboratories in Ukraine where they develop and test malicious viruses on Slav populations.

Jun 08, 2020
Disproof

This is a recurring conspiracy theory alleging, without evidence, that the United States develops biological weapons and has secret biological laboratories around the world. The disinformation claim also capitalises on the oft-recurring conspiracy theory about the Lugar Lab in Georgia, as well as laboratories in Ukraine, all of them encircling Russia. According to this and similar claims, the main task of these labs is to create "combat" viruses against Russians. Actually, virology laboratories in Ukraine are involved in preventing the risks of complex diseases by pathogens and, together with other similar projects, counteracting bioterrorism. In April, the US Embassy in Ukraine reaffirmed that the country offers its support to ensure Ukraine can detect and report outbreaks caused by dangerous pathogens before they pose security or stability threats. In June the Ukrainian health ministry answered to a Member of Ukrainian Parliament supporting the idea of secret US labs, that there were no such laboratories. The more the story is proved not based on fact, the more its pro-Russian supporters find it "interesting". See other cases on this narrative.

Disinfo: British secret services recruited Syrian terrorists, former ISIS member confesses

British secret services forced Syrian extremists to work for them, and ordered them to compile information on the Russian facilities in the Arab country, former Islamic State member Mohammed Hussein Saud told Russian journalists. The former extremist admitted that he met with British intelligence officials in the Al Tanf area, on the border with Jordan, where the US military base is located. Saud said that the UK experts needed information on “important sites in Russia and Syria”, namely security sites, to be able to launch a terrorist attack.

Jun 08, 2020
Disproof

Recurrent pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about alleged Western support to the Islamic State and other terrorist organisations in the Middle East. The mention of a US base in the Al Tanf region in southern Syria seems an attempt to suggest some US involvement in these alleged terrorist plots against Russian forces. The UK and the US are part of the global coalition to defeat the Islamic State, and both countries are part of the Operation Inherent Resolve that has been ongoing to attack and degrade the capabilities of the group since 2014. The EUvsDisinfo database has a long set of disinformation cases on this subject, such as claims that Donald Trump cancelled Daesh funding because he opposes the destruction of the Middle East, that jihadists are US and European proxies in the region, that the US created ISIS when Al Qaeda went outside the script, that US special forces were deployed with Al Qaeda in Idlib, that US and UK will use terrorist organisations against China, that the US is moving ISIS to Afghanistan or that the US may have evacuated ISIS leader Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi instead of killing him.