The U.S. has no biological weapons laboratories in Ukraine and Georgia

Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine began, false claims have been circulating across social networks that Russian President Vladimir Putin is targeting US-run biological weapons laboratories in his neighboring country. Allegations of a network of such laboratories along the border with Russia were shared in Russian state media outlets in the weeks leading up to the invasion. False claims by Russia about the alleged use of bioweapons by the US are not new and have been reported by Truthmeter.mk. There are no US-owned bio laboratories on Ukrainian territory. The US Department of Defense announced on March 10, 2022, that Russia and China are falsely accusing other parties of using biological weapons against Russians

 

We analyze a Facebook post that says:

 

RFK Jr. explains the terrifying history of research into augmenting functions through bacteria.

In 2014, a virus leaked from American labs. That’s why Obama put a moratorium. What did the US military do? Move the labs and bioweapons research to other countries! (Wuhan, Ukraine, Georgia, etc.)

In 1973, Nixon halted this type of research after learning of the horrific results of CIA’s experiments. He also got 180 countries to sign an agreement.

But September 11th provided the perfect excuse for the neocons to restart their project……

Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine began, false claims have been circulating across social networks that Russian President Vladimir Putin is targeting US-run biological weapons laboratories in his neighboring country. Allegations of a network of such laboratories along the border with Russia were shared in Russian state media outlets in the weeks leading up to the invasion.

False claims from Russia about the alleged use of bioweapons by the United States are not new, and Truthmeter.mk has already written about them.

This disinformation, produced in the Kremlin’s kitchen, has been circulating across social networks for years.

Claims that the US is developing biological weapons in Ukraine date back at least to 2018.

According to them, the US is working to bring deadly pathogens closer to the Russian border and test them on the territory of the former Soviet republics. According to the fact-checking service “Raskrinkavanje,”  allegations about US biological laboratories appeared as early as 2015. As an example, they cite an article in the Russian media outlet “Sputnik” in which it is written that “Russia is concerned about the military biolaboratories that the US is building in its vicinity,” although the text itself does not provide details or evidence that the US is actually building such laboratories on post-Soviet soil.

The truth is that there are no US-owned bio-laboratories on the territory of Ukraine, and this has been debunked on several occasions, both by global fact-checking services and by Truthmeter.mk.

The US Department of Defense announced on March 10, 2022, that Russia and China were falsely accusing other parties of using biological weapons against Russians.

The United States is not assisting Ukraine with biological weapons in its war against Russia, and there is no indication that biological weapons are being used by Ukraine. There are five biological research laboratories in Kyiv. Their work focuses on diagnostics, therapeutic approaches, treatments, prevention, and vaccination, not military use as Russia and China allege. There are no Department of Defense biological weapons laboratories in Ukraine or anywhere else in the world. The Biological Weapons Convention prohibits the development, production, transfer, stockpiling, or use of biological and toxin weapons,” they wrote.

The U.S. government wrote in March 2023 that, to justify its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the Kremlin recreated and promoted several fictitious narratives, including some related to biological weapons. Within days of the invasion of Ukraine, the Kremlin claimed that there were “biological weapons laboratories in Ukraine” as one of its false pretexts for its attack. However, a year later, the Kremlin has not provided any credible evidence for these claims, the U.S. government added.

Biological weapons researcher and professor at King’s College London, Filippa Lentzos, told Agence France-Presse that there is no indication that these laboratories in Ukraine are being used to develop biological weapons, but rather that their purpose is to prevent the spread of infectious diseases.

Back in March 2022, the World Health Organization recommended that Ukraine destroy pathogens from laboratories to prevent them from spreading and causing diseases.

The posts misinterpret the 2005 U.S.-Ukraine Agreement, which aims to prevent biological threats, not create them. Under the August 2005 Agreement, the Ukrainian and U.S. governments agreed to cooperate to “prevent the spread of dangerous pathogens and related expertise and to minimize potential biological threats.”

In May 2020, the Security Service of Ukraine issued a statement calling on politicians to stop spreading false information about the existence of foreign military biological laboratories in Ukraine.

The laboratories in Ukraine are intended to prevent the spread of infectious diseases and are part of a Development Program for reduction of risks and dangers, as “Truthmeter.mk” has already written.

“Truthmeter.mk” has already written about the Russian government’s accusations that Georgia is conducting secret experiments at the Richard Lugar Laboratory, which, according to Russia, is funded by the United States, i.e. the Pentagon. According to Russia, Georgia is conducting “experiments on the use of insects as carriers of dangerous diseases” in this laboratory. Russia’s campaign against the Richard Lugar Laboratory is not new and has been going on for years.

The post also mentions some kind of project related to September 11. In connection with the terrorist attack on September 11, 2001 in the United States, several conspiracy theories have appeared on social networks, which Truthmeter.mk has already written about.

Finally, it is important to note that Kennedy, who is now the US Secretary of Health and Human Services in the Donald Trump administration, is a long-time vaccine skeptic who has promoted multiple conspiracy theories and has spoken out against vaccination throughout the pandemic. Moreover, disinformation about fluoride has been associated with Kennedy’s name.

From all of the above, we can conclude that the post we are analyzing is untrue.

 

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