DISINFO: The US has biological military activity in dozens of countries
SUMMARY
The United States has spread biological military activity, within the framework of the Pentagon's programmes, to dozens of countries in all the world's regions, especially in Eurasia along the border with Russia and China.
RESPONSE
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 yearlong disinformation campaign conducted by the Russian state and pro-Kremlin outlets and is currently deployed in an attempt to justify Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine. The claim has been neither counterbalanced nor critically challenged in the article.
The US biolabs are not for military purposes. In fact, biological laboratories are involved in preventing the risks of complex diseases and, together with other similar projects, counteracting bioterrorism.
Such claims have traditionally focused on the presence of US biolabs in Ukraine, Georgia and Armenia. In Ukraine, the claim often refers to the Science and Technology Center in Ukraine (STCU), which is an intergovernmental organisation established in an international agreement in 1993. Its mission is to support civilian science, technology partnerships and collaboration through chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear risk mitigation. The projects of STCU partners include research on adjuvant for improvement of cancer vaccines, detecting trace impurities in biological tissues, human vision diagnostics, and therapy among many others.
In Georgia, it is the Richard Lugar Centre for Public Health Research, which is a facility of the National Centre for Disease Control and Public Health (NCDC). It 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.
As for Armenia, 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 more on pro-Kremlin disinformation on the alleged development of bioweapons by the US, read here.