Serious accusation from Moscow: Is US developing biological weapons in Ukraine?

American “Biolops” in Ukraine?

One week ago, Russia began spreading rumors through unofficial channels that there were US “biologs” in Ukraine. Container channels And this Chinese social media He took it too.

According to these According to records on social media, a total of 26 US biological laboratories in Ukraine are developing dangerous biological weapons., And the Ukrainian government is trying to remove the signs from the day of the invasion. According to some records, in fact, at the beginning of the invasion Russian forces did not actually bomb Ukrainian airports, but these dangerous laboratories. Earlier, the same leaders claimed that sites used by “Ukrainian Nazis” were the first to be attacked.

Already in the last 1-2 days At the state level There was a news about BioLaps. Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Zhao Lijiang He advised The United States says it now operates “under the full control” of the Pentagon to “explain” the functions of biological laboratories in Ukraine.

Yesterday, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zharova Already He said: During “special military operations” in Ukraine, there was evidence that Americans tested “contagious pathogens” such as anthrax or leprosy in these laboratories.

The Pentagon responded immediately to Chinese and Russian allegations: accusations of a biological weapons program in Ukraine were “absurd Russian misinformation and blatant lies.”

This morning, White House spokeswoman Jen Zaki also stood tall Report He issued a statement calling the Russian allegations “crazy” and later said that, in fact, Russia was attacking its political opponents with newcomers and other nerve-wracking, and feared that the Russians were now. Attempting to embed it in a faulty trap operation.

Following Zaki’s statement, the Russian Defense Ministry further escalated the information war: They saidThe United States has tested positive for corona viruses in bats in Ukrainian laboratories.

Not surprisingly, Russia soon publicly accused the United States of developing SARS-CoV-2, which causes infections in a secret Ukrainian laboratory.

“But America recognized it!”

It was only after US Secretary of State Victoria Nuland acknowledged at the Senate hearing that the Russian media and political elite actually picked up on the “Ukrainian biolapse” story:

Biological laboratories are operating in Ukraine, and the United States fears that research results here could fall into the hands of Russian soldiers, so they are working with Ukrainian authorities to ensure the safety of research results.

Therefore, Victoria Nuland acknowledged that there are biological laboratories in Ukraine, and that these are the laboratories in which research is being carried out that Russia does not want to see.

However, it does not follow the US policy of developing biological weapons in Ukraine with the help of the Pentagon.

The laboratories of these pharmaceutical companies, which are run by local companies with US funding, may actually store viruses in them, but it is not clear and understandable that they do not like American technology and research results. Russian hands in international drug competition. See.

Not only in Ukraine, but In many countriesResearch on sensitive viruses for pharmaceutical purposes with high security standards, including laboratories in Hungary.

However, no military research has been conducted in these laboratories.

The development of biological and chemical weapons was not accidental to the 1975 International Convention Biological and Toxic Weapons Conference (BTWC)), Which was signed by Russia (then the Soviet Union) and the United States.

Such a plan would be completely meaningless

In connection with the information war surrounding such allegations, perhaps The most critical factor is the inability to verify the authenticity of any page’s claims.. This is best demonstrated by the nephew surrounding the Wuhan Institute of Virology.

As such, no clear, objective evidence can be found for the allegations made by either party.

• If the United States actually develops biological weapons, it will not explicitly acknowledge this and will try to eliminate all evidence before the plan is taken into hostile hands, and information about it will be leaked.
• Russia, on the other hand, is eager to draw as much wet paper as possible on hostile Ukraine and its ally the United States, so they may falsify the evidence to support a claim that has no basis in fact.

Anyway, let’s face it, It does not seem logical for the US to use Ukraine as a base for a secret weapons program. There are a number of reasons for this:

• Ukraine has had a (civil) war since 2014, and the United States has been warning for eight years that the Russian invasion of Ukraine could last for about a year. Two weeks ago.
• At any time in a conflict zone, an attack on a alleged secret weapons program could expose the entire project to hostile hands, exposing an important military plan to such danger is completely meaningless.
• Bringing the sensitive equipment and specialists needed for the operation of the laboratories to a territory in Ukraine that is not even with the United States and then ensuring their permanent operation from the 9,000-kilometer-long United States would be unnecessarily complicated. .
• Coincidentally, the United States has not yet relied heavily on the Ukrainian government, which reflects well on their refusal to bring other key military technologies (missile defense systems, warplanes, etc.) into the country. Weapons program.

Incidentally, there are military laboratories in the United States where dangerous viruses are stored, such as those based in Maryland. Fort Tetric. The laboratory requires constant military supervision and operates under the highest security standards, and in Ukraine, 26 more locations cannot be secretly provided by the United States.

On the one hand, however, it is noteworthy that the United States had already stopped developing biological weapons during the Cold War and began destroying their chemical and biological weapons in the 1990s. The stockpile was disarmed.

Will this news work now?

Finally, it is worth noting that it cannot be controlled precisely anyway Hostile “biological weapons programs” seem like a well-digested story when it comes to excuses for war.

The United States and its allies claim that the 2003 invasion of Iraq was primarily the catastrophic use of chemical and biological weapons by the Saddam Hussein-led Ba’athist regime, but to date there is no evidence.

That may be the most suffocating factor about the invasion of Iraq One of the British intelligence (MI6) was charged Proof For example, he took elements of the 1996 film Rock Prove: Saddam Hussein makes chemical weapons. British intelligence later discovered that they had been turned into horses.

Now the Russians are trying similar rhetorical tricks; Chinese and Russian (social) media and can be found in addition to American containers Even in basically neutral countries, the news begins to hate. E.g. IndiaA section of the population supports Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, but Indian volunteers in the Ukrainian Foreign Corps also They fight Against the Russian army.

Meanwhile, the US government fears that Russia will use chemical or biological weapons in Ukraine to spread it to the United States. This threat has been at the forefront of the information war for some time: in December, Defense Minister Sergei Sozku Report First before the invasion of Ukraine, when Ukrainian nationalists were accused Were caught In the Crimea, he wanted to demolish a chemical plant.

We hope that the threat of “biological weapons” will be at the campaign level, as the use of such a weapon, which is strictly forbidden by international traditions, unfortunately increases the risk of war.

Cover image description. Photo: Getty Images