DISINFO: US biolabs in Kazakhstan create weapons for genocide of former USSR people
SUMMARY
In 2016, Washington invested about $160 million to open a central reference laboratory at the National Scientific Center for Particularly Dangerous Infections of the Ministry of Health of Kazakhstan. A huge part of the laboratory's developments is related to the collection and export to the US of biological research materials that were conducted in Central Asia during the Soviet period. The US is trying to transfer to Kazakhstan all of its Ukrainian laboratories, which create bioweapons for the genocide of the former USSR people.
RESPONSE
An unsubstantiated 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 bio laboratories with military purposes in Ukraine, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and other countries, which pro-Kremlin outlets and Russian authorities continue promoting despite repeated debunking.
This disinformation has been repeatedly debunked, including by the UN High Representative for Disarmament Affairs Izumi Nakamitsu and by Russian biologists who examined Moscow’s “proof”, but pro-Kremlin outlets and Russian authorities continue promoting it with growing intensity.
There are dozens of civilian public health laboratories in Ukraine, but there is nothing sinister about their work. They are involved in biological research to prevent the risks of complex diseases and counteracting bioterrorism with other similar projects.
Pro-Kremlin disinformation actors falsely portrayed those as military sites, deliberately blurring the line between biological weapons and biological research. Some of these laboratories receive funding from the US, the EU, and the World Health Organization (WHO).
There are no US biological warfare laboratories in Ukraine, Kazakhstan, or Armenia. These countries are cooperating with the US Department of Defence's Biological Threat Reduction Programme (BTRP): the BTRP aims to safeguard global health by preventing and containing the outbreak of infectious diseases and establishing high international standards in biological security.
The allegation about the genocide of the former USSR people is completely baseless. The fact is that biological weapons targeting specific ethnic genomes remain in the realm of hypothesis for several reasons, such as the challenge of obtaining genetic markers exclusive to a particular ethnic group.
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