What are the Ukraine ‘biolabs’ and why have they become a focus for Fox News and the US right?
A fierce row is raging across the media and politics over US-funded “bio labs” in Ukraine.
The US government has admitted there are a number of such facilities in Ukraine funded by Washington that do research on deadly pathogens, albeit from a preventative perspective rather than to create a weapon.
Regardless, the US officials have expressed concern that the pathogens could fall into Russian hands and has urged that any harmful pathogens be destroyed. The World Heath Organisation has also made such a recommendation
Russia has claimed without evidence the US is developing biological and chemical weapons in Ukraine and that it discovered efforts to clean up these programmes when it launched its so-called “special military operation”, an invasion that has led to thousands of deaths and indiscriminate targeting of civilian targets.
The US has denounced the claims, which have been repeated by China, as classic disinformation from Moscow.
Now, the issue has been seized on by some on the right, such as Fox News’sTucker Carlson, who has been accused of intentionally implying the “bio labs” have a more sinister side to them. He has denied doing so.
And former Democratic congressman Tulsi Gabbard, who ran for the presidency in 2020, has been accused of “treason” by Mitt Romney, after she posted a two-minute video calling for a ceasefire in Ukraine to enable any harmful materials to be removed and accusing the Biden administration of a cover-up.
“Tulsi Gabbard is parroting false Russian propaganda. Her treasonous lies may well cost lives,” he tweeted.
So what do we know about these bio-labs and the claims being made about them?
Russia claims it found US bio-weapons programme in Ukraine
At the beginning of March, Russia’s defence and foreign ministries made the incendiary claim the US was funding bioweapons research in Ukraine. They said during “the course of the special military operation evidence of an emergency clean-up performed by the Kyiv government had been found aimed at eradicating traces of the military-biological programme”.
Maria Zakharova, a spokesperson for the Russian foreign ministry, called on Washington to come clean about what she termed “illegal activities in Ukraine”
She said Russia had documents showing the Ukrainian health ministry had ordered the destruction of samples of plague, cholera, anthrax and other pathogens before February 24, when Russian forces moved into Ukraine.
“It can be concluded that components of biological weapons were being developed in Ukrainian biolabs located in close vicinity of our border,” she said. “The emergency destruction of dangerous pathogens on February 24 was a necessary step aimed at concealing the fact that Ukraine and the US had violated Article 1 of the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention.”
What does the US say about this – and why does it think Russia is making assertions?
The US has denied the claims it has backed a bioweapons programme or is developing such weapons in Ukraine. It has also claimed Russia is making these assertions in order to give it cover should it decide to launch chemical or biological weapons attacks itself.
“Now that Russia has made these false claims, and China has seemingly endorsed this propaganda, we should all be on the lookout for Russia to possibly use chemical or biological weapons in Ukraine, or to create a false flag operation using them,” tweeted Jen Psaki, the White House Press Secretary. “It’s a clear pattern.”
In a statement, Ned Price, spokesperson for the Department of State, accused Russia of “inventing false pretexts in an attempt to justify its own horrific actions in Ukraine” and said Washington was “in full compliance with its obligations under the Chemical Weapons Convention and Biological Weapons Convention, and it does not develop or possess such weapons anywhere”.
John Kirby, a Pentagon spokesperson, called the Russian accusations “absurd”. “There’s nothing to it. It’s classic Russian propaganda,” he told reporters.
