The Russian government and media outlets have ramped up claims in recent days that the U.S. was operating bioweapon research facilities in Ukraine, with Chinese diplomats and propaganda outlets doing their part to amplify the story. Historically, such allegations from Russia have stretched back years. The U.S. has consistently denied the claims, and Russia has never provided any proof of the matter.
“The Russian accusations are absurd, they are laughable, and, you know, in the words of my Irish Catholic grandfather, a bunch of malarkey. There’s nothing to it. It’s classic Russian propaganda,” Pentagon spokesman John Kirby stated Wednesday. “We are not developing biological or chemical weapons inside Ukraine. It’s not happening.” At a Senate Foreign Relations Commission on Tuesday, Republican Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida asked Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland if Ukraine has chemical or biological weapons.
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“Ukraine has biological research facilities, which, in fact, we are now quite concerned Russian troops and Russian forces may be seeking to gain control of,” Nuland responded. “So we are working with the Ukrainians on how they can prevent any of those research materials from falling into the hands of Russian forces should they approach.”
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Reportedly, a spokesperson for the State Department told the Washington Examiner that the Pentagon does not own or operate any biolabs in Ukraine. Nuland, the spokesperson asserted, “was referring to Ukrainian diagnostic and biodefense laboratories.” Those “are not biological weapons facilities.” And, in fact, they “counter biological threats throughout the country.” “Throughout this crisis, Russia has baselessly alleged it is under threat, including from Ukraine and from NATO, and has alleged Ukraine plans to use chemical and biological weapons,” the spokesperson said. “As we’ve said all along, Russia is continuing to invent false pretexts to justify their horrific actions in Ukraine.”
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Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov claimed Sunday that “evidence of the Kyiv regime’s hasty measures to conceal any traces of the military biological program finance by the U.S. Department of Defense in Ukraine has been revealed.” Russian state-run news agency TASS claimed that “information was received from employees of Ukrainian biolabs that especially hazardous pathogens — plague, anthrax, cholera, tularemia, and other lethal diseases infecting agents — had been urgently destroyed on February 24.”