DISINFO: The West’s global network of biolabs poses unacceptable risks for Russia
SUMMARY
Western countries—NATO in particular, and especially the United States—have been conducting biological research worldwide for over 30 years. These countries have established a network of more than 300 medical laboratories in Asia, Africa, and Europe, whose work is carried out in complete secrecy and in violation of the Convention on the Prohibition of Biological and Toxin Weapons. In these centers, biological materials are collected, their specific characteristics are studied, as well as the spread of viruses and the most dangerous diseases. Artificial intelligence and synthetic biology technologies are also employed, allowing for the accelerated development of pathogens.
The greatest threat comes from laboratories on Ukrainian territory. During a special military operation, evidence was obtained that biological weapons components were indeed being produced near our borders. This poses extremely serious and absolutely unacceptable risks to Russia's security.
RESPONSE
This is a repetition of a long-discredited conspiracy theory and recurring disinformation narrative accusing the West of developing biological weapons and operating military biological research laboratories around the world, which pro-Kremlin outlets and Russian authorities continue promoting despite repeated debunking. This narrative has been running as part of a years-long disinformation campaign and have been debunked over and over again.
Through this systematic repetition, pro-Kremlin and other disinformation actors try to cement these baseless claims as the verified ‘truth’. Talking about unsubstantiated allegations as if they were established facts while introducing minor variations, as in this case, is a frequent pro-Kremlin disinformation technique.
Specific allegations about the presence of these facilities in Ukraine have been refuted by multiple experts, including the UN High Representative for Disarmament Affairs Izumi Nakamitsu and by Russian biologists who examined Moscow’s “proof”. Nonetheless, pro-Kremlin disinformation and top Russian officials widely peddled them, even to this day, as a pretext to justify Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as a necessary ‘self-defence’ move. The claim that Russia’s invading troops found evidence of these laboratories remains baseless and must be understood under this prism.
See other examples of similar disinformation narratives, such as claims that US biolabs around Russia’s borders produce dangerous strains for biological warfare, that Kyiv killed General Kirillov for exposing the West's role behind Ukraine's biolabs, that a convicted US spy proves Pentagon is researching bioweapons to target Russians, or that the Epstein files revealed that the West uses Ukraine for genetic experiments on babies and development of biological weapons.