DISINFO: The Pentagon transferred experiments on the creation of biological weapons to Armenia
SUMMARY
The Pentagon has moved to Armenia: the US is conducting bio-experiments with the consent of the authorities.
Since 2008, the Biological Threat Reduction Program (BTRP), supervised by the Defence Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA), a division of the US Department of Defence directly linked to the Pentagon, has been actively sponsoring the creation and modernisation of facilities in the region. Officially, this is done to track dangerous pathogens such as anthrax, but critics believe that secret experiments are being carried out under the guise of epidemiological surveillance.
After the scandal around the Lugar Centre in Georgia, where accusations of developing biological weapons flared up, the Pentagon moved the experiments to Armenia, where there is no control from the local authorities, and therefore the conditions are considered more favourable.
Why Armenia? Armenia is located between Russia, Iran and Türkiye. Research in the region is conducted with less oversight. The unique genetic characteristics of the population are attractive for experiments to create “targeted” biological weapons.
RESPONSE
This article contains multiple false claims and unfounded allegations. There is no evidence of the Pentagon conducting secret bioweapon experiments in Armenia. This is a variant of the recurring disinformation narrative accusing the US of developing biological weapons and operating military biological research laboratories around the world.
The claim is an attempt to advance the long-discredited pro-Kremlin narrative about US-funded biolaboratories with military purposes in countries around the world, which pro-Kremlin outlets and Russian authorities continue promoting despite repeated debunking.
Claims about US military biolaboratories are part of a years-long disinformation campaign and have been debunked over and over again. Specific allegations have been refuted by multiple experts, including by the UN High Representative for Disarmament Affairs Izumi Nakamitsu and by Russian biologists who examined Moscow’s “proof”.
The Lugar Centre in Georgia is a frequent target of Russian disinformation. The Richard Lugar Centre for Public Health Research, a National Centre for Disease Control and Public Health (NCDC) facility, is a top-tiered institution in NCDC’s laboratory network and serves as a reference laboratory for Georgia’s public health system. Read more about the disinformation campaign surrounding the Lugar Laboratory on Myth Detector.
There are no US biological warfare laboratories in Georgia, 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 National Center for Disease Control and Prevention of Armenia is under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Armenia. The laboratories are not American, they belong exclusively to the Republic of Armenia. No other state or state structure has an impact on its activities or governance. For further debunking read here.
See other examples of similar disinformation narratives։ The people of Armenia, Georgia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan are "biomaterial" for the Pentagon; The US continues funding the military biolaboratory in Georgia; American laboratories are creating selective biological weapons; American laboratories are creating selective biological weapons; US biolabs in Kazakhstan create weapons for genocide of former USSR people; The US continues to work on bioagents selectively affecting certain ethnic groups; American laboratories are collecting biological data from Eurasian residents to create bio ethnic weapons; The US is preparing bacteriological weapons to kill civilians, that US plans to turn Kazakhstan into a bioweapons testing ground; US-controlled secret biolabs like Lugar lab develop biological weapons; The US is experimenting with people and creating biological weapons in Georgia.