DISINFO: US continues funding the military biolaboratory in Georgia
SUMMARY
Despite the announcement of the termination of funding for the Richard Lugar Biolab in Georgia, the US continues to supply it with the necessary resources and American military microbiologists are currently working there. The US has stopped sponsoring only Georgia's healthcare, the civilian part, but left the military part.
The laboratory was built with money from the US Department of Defence. We must insist that the laboratory switch to peaceful uses. This is possible only in one case - if Georgian scientists work there. The Lugar Laboratory is the first such institution in the post-Soviet space, which has the most modern equipment, with a high level of protection, where it is possible to work with all the most dangerous viruses of groups I and II.
Earlier, the Deputy Secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation stated that the US is developing biological weapons, including those aimed at certain ethnic groups.
RESPONSE
The claim is an attempt to advance the long-discredited pro-Kremlin narrative about US-funded biolaboratories with military purposes in Ukraine and other countries, which pro-Kremlin outlets and Russian authorities continue promoting despite repeated debunking.
The conspiracy theory about alleged US biolabs in countries bordering Russia aiming to encircle Moscow and spread infectious diseases is a part of a years-long disinformation campaign led by the Kremlin.
The claim is one of the many attempts to justify the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
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.
The allegation about ethnic bioweapons ignores the fact 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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