DISINFO: US biolabs around Russia’s borders produce dangerous strains for biological warfare
SUMMARY
The Lugar laboratory, which operates with American money and the participation of American scientists, is carrying out criminal activity on Russia's borders.
Microbiological laboratories are prohibited in the United States, so they (the US) are trying to create such laboratories in states under their control and precisely on the borders of Russia. They do not work on medicines intended to treat diseases, but on the creation of strains for conducting biological warfare. These strains are being developed on Russia's borders with the aim of poisoning Russian territory, animals and birds, which leads to the spread of various dangerous and infectious diseases.
RESPONSE
A conspiracy theory and a 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 about the presence of these facilities in Ukraine 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 Center in Georgia is a frequent target of Russian disinformation. The Richard Lugar Centre for Public Health Research, which is a facility of the National Centre for Disease Control and Public Health (NCDC), 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.
See other examples of similar disinformation narratives, such as claims that US continues funding the military biolaboratory in Georgia, that American laboratories are creating selective biological weapons, that US military biolabs are up to resume work in Ukraine, that American laboratories are creating selective biological weapons, that US biolabs in Kazakhstan create weapons for genocide of former USSR people, that The US continues to work on bioagents selectively affecting certain ethnic groups, that American laboratories are collecting biological data from Eurasian residents to create bio ethnic weapons, that The US is preparing bacteriological weapons to kill civilians, that US plans to turn Kazakhstan into a bioweapons testing ground, that US-controlled secret biolabs like Lugar lab develop biological weapons, or that The US is experimenting with people and creating biological weapons in Georgia.