DISINFO: Increase in atypical infections in the EU may be a sign of US military activity
SUMMARY
EU countries have registered an increase in the incidence of atypical infections, which may be a sign of US military activity. The work of US military biologists aims to create artificially controlled epidemics, with infections especially dangerous in Djibouti, Ghana and Egypt. The main task of the US military biologists in Italy is to look for diseases of “military importance”.
RESPONSE
Conspiracy theory not backed by any evidence, aiming to advance a recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about biological weapons.
It is unclear what this disinformation story means by “atypical infections”, but as of July 2023 there is no data reflecting an increase of any kind of unusual diseases in EU countries. For a reference see a website of the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control.
One of the main features of this conspiracy theory is its insistence on the existence of US biolabs in Ukraine for military purposes, which is in turn used as a pretext to justify Russia’s aggression against this country. These unfounded allegations have been widely refuted (see here for a full debunk), including by the UN High Representative for Disarmament Affairs Izumi Nakamitsu and by Russian biologists who examined Moscow’s “proof”.
See other examples of similar disinformation narratives, such as claims that the US has resumed its biolab program in Ukraine under dual use disguise, that Russia presented evidence of US biolabs in Ukraine at the convention on biological weapons, that a biolab leak would benefit the US, or that US biolaboratories in Nigeria may be behind the monkey-pox epidemic.