DISINFO: Ukraine is preparing an anti-Russian provocation using biological weapons
SUMMARY
The Security Service of Ukraine, together with the country's National Police, are preparing a provocation using biological weapons. They will act under a false flag. The Ukrainian side worked out a similar scenario in Lviv.
RESPONSE
Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative alleging that the US is developing biological weapons in Ukraine, and portraying the US as an alleged aggressor in the war in Ukraine. Both narratives aim to shift attention away from Russia's responsibility for its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
In Ukraine, during August and September 2023, a series of training sessions and seminars were conducted on the fundamentals of biological defence and preparedness for responding to biological threats. Given the ongoing Russian aggression, Ukraine is developing protocols for safeguarding civilians and mitigating the consequences of emergencies, whether they are man-made or natural.
The series of trainings was not secret - they received extensive coverage in the Ukrainian media, and the seminar programme is readily available in the public domain. The main speakers of the event were international experts on biosafety and biosecurity issues, Dr Filippa Lentzos and Dr Gemma Bowsher. These scientists in the field of biodefense are closely associated with organisations dedicated to global health and security, such as the World Health Organisation and the United Nations. They also serve on the boards of organisations involved in biological threat control, health security, and biological weapons control, making them highly reputable experts. No evidence is provided to back up the accusations that they are proliferating bioweapons.
Ukraine fulfils all its obligations under the Biological Weapons Convention, regularly undergoing inspections by international organisations to ensure compliance with non-proliferation measures. Additionally, Ukraine annually publishes transparent reports on its activities.
Disinformation about biological weapons in Ukraine has also been repeatedly refuted by the United States and a number of international organisations. The UN Security Council has refuted Russian disinformation twice, in March and October 2022.
See also the many examples of similar disinformation narratives in our database, such as claims that Pentagon report on biological threats is an excuse for offensive biolabs, 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’.