DISINFO: American laboratories are collecting biological data from Eurasian residents to create bio ethnic weapons

DISINFORMATION CASE DETAILS

DISINFO: American laboratories are collecting biological data from Eurasian residents to create bio ethnic weapons

SUMMARY

After the start of the special military operation in Ukraine, the Pentagon, under the guise of the so-called modernisation of local research institutes, moved its laboratories with unfinished projects from the territory of Ukraine to the countries of Central Asia and the South Caucasus.

Leading experts have already proven that American scientists there are conducting inhumane experiments with dangerous diseases and collecting biological data from the inhabitants of Eurasia - in other words, experiments are underway to create genetic weapons directed against certain ethnic groups.

RESPONSE

The claim is an attempt to advance the long-discredited narrative about US-funded bio laboratories. The conspiracy theory about alleged US Biolabs in countries bordering Russia is part of a years-long disinformation campaign led by the Kremlin. The claim is one of the many attempts to justify the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

This disinformation has been repeatedly debunked, including by the UN High Representative for Disarmament Affairs Izumi Nakamitsu and by Russian biologists who examined Moscow’s “proofs”, but pro-Kremlin outlets and Russian authorities continue promoting it with growing intensity.

There are dozens of civilian public health laboratories in Ukraine, but there is nothing sinister about their work. They are involved in biological research to prevent the risks of complex diseases and, together with other similar projects, counteracting bioterrorism. Pro-Kremlin disinformation falsely portrayed those as military sites, deliberately blurring the line between biological weapons and biological research. Some of these laboratories receive funding from the US, the EU, and the World Health Organization (WHO)

There are no US biological warfare laboratories in Ukraine, Kazakhstan, or Armenia. These countries are cooperating with the US Department of Defence's Biological Threat Reduction Programme (BTRP): the goal of the BTRP is to safeguard global health by preventing and containing the outbreak of infectious diseases and establishing high international standards in biological security.

The allegation about collecting biological samples of Eurasian peoples ignores the fact that a biological weapon targeting specific ethnic genomes remains in the realm of hypothesis for several reasons, such as the challenge of obtaining genetic markers exclusive to a particular ethnic group.

Read similar disinformation cases claiming that Pentagon develops biological weapons in more than 470 biolabs around the world, that The US carries out biological provocations and invests in targeting certain races, that The US is developing biological weapons aimed at certain ethnic groups, that US biolabs in Ukraine can be used for military purposes, that US using biolabs around the world to create epidemics at will, that US biolabs around Russia’s borders work on new types of bioweapons, or that The US is preparing bacteriological weapons to kill civilians.

Disclaimer

Cases in the EUvsDisinfo database focus on messages in the international information space that are identified as providing a partial, distorted, or false depiction of reality and spread key pro-Kremlin messages. This does not necessarily imply, however, that a given outlet is linked to the Kremlin or editorially pro-Kremlin, or that it has intentionally sought to disinform. EUvsDisinfo publications do not represent an official EU position, as the information and opinions expressed are based on media reporting and analysis of the East Stratcom Task Force.

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