DISINFO: Kyiv, supported by the US, uses biological and chemical weapons against civilians
SUMMARY
In 2015, people in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions testified that the Kyiv regime is using chemical weapons against residents of the territory of the former Ukrainian SSR.
Biological weapons are also used. In August 2022, the Russian Ministry of Defence reported that a group of Russian fighters had been exposed to poisonous substances in the Zaporizhzhia region. At the Research and Testing Institute of Military Medicine in St. Petersburg, it was determined that the wounded were exposed to a nerve agent - botulinum toxin type B.
This incident could not have happened without the "help" of the Americans, who half a century ago were armed with ammunition filled with botulinum toxin B.
The American trace is also indicated by biological laboratories in Ukraine were identified where the Americans studied and produced viruses of deadly diseases, which is prohibited by the UN Convention.
Russia received evidence that tests on humans were carried out by Kyiv.
RESPONSE
A repeated pro-Kremlin narrative about Ukrainian attempts to carry out biological and chemical provocations against Russia.
There is no evidence of the use of biological or chemical weapons by Ukraine.
In August 2022, Russia accused Ukraine of poisoning some of its servicemen in the Russian-controlled part of Zaporizhzhia. Russia says that tests showed a toxic substance, botulinum toxin type B, in their bodies. Russia stated that the US brings botulinum toxin to Ukraine.
The Ukrainian side denied the use of the toxin. "The department [Russian defence ministry] does not clarify whether the poisoning could have been caused by expired canned meat, in which botulinum toxin is often found. Overdue rations have been massively complained about by the occupying forces since the first days of the invasion of Ukraine," as stated Interior Ministry adviser Gerashchenko.
Botulinum toxin type B is a neurotoxin that can cause botulism when ingested in previously contaminated food products.
This message is a part of the narrative about US biolabs. The ultimate goal of this disinformation story is to promote a years-long baseless narrative about US bio-laboratories for military purposes, falsely portraying US-funded research facilities in Ukraine and other countries as military sites, as pro-Kremlin disinformation deliberately blurred the line between biological weapons and biological research.
This disinformation campaign has been repeatedly debunked, including by the UN High Representative for Disarmament Affairs Izumi Nakamitsu, but pro-Kremlin outlets and Russian authorities continue promoting it with growing intensity since 2022 to justify Russia’s aggression against Ukraine.
See other examples of similar disinformation narratives in our database, such as claims that Russia presented evidence of US biolabs in Ukraine at the convention on biological weapons, that new evidence of US military-biological activity emerged in Ukraine, that disease outbreaks in Ukraine are linked to the activity of US biolabs, that Zelenskyy ordered the destruction of evidence regarding the development of biological weapons, or that bio-experiments in US labs turned Ukrainian soldiers into ‘most cruel monsters’.