COUNTERING Biological WEAPONS DISINFORMATION

Since the onset of Russia’s war in Ukraine, Russia has made a series of false allegations accusing the United States and Ukraine of conducting prohibited activities in U.S.-assisted laboratories in Ukraine. These laboratories conduct peaceful biological activities that promote public and animal health and contribute to regional biosafety and biosecurity. The assistance provided by the United States through its Cooperative Threat Reduction Program falls under BWC Article X, which requires States Parties to facilitate the fullest possible exchange of equipment, materials, and information for the peaceful use of biology.

In June 2022, Russia submitted a diplomatic note and Aide Memoire containing questions to the United States and Ukraine regarding the activities of the Ukrainian laboratories. The Aide Memoire consisted primarily of misrepresented documents, some of which were illegible, and unsubstantiated ‘evidence’ of alleged non-compliance. Despite receiving a response from the United States requesting legible copies of the referenced documents, Russia chose to call for a formal consultative meeting under BWC Article V, which opened on 26 August 2022. At the Formal Consultative Meeting, the United States and Ukraine provided detailed descriptions of the peaceful nature of their cooperative biological activities. In addition to the United States and Ukraine, 42 other States Parties present at the Formal Consultative Meeting dismissed Russia’s allegations as unfounded.  

In addition to leveling false allegations through diplomatic channels, Russia has also propagated disinformation about biological weapons through state-sponsored news agencies, proxy outlets, and social media channels. These media outlets often reference Russia’s claims made in the context of the BWC and serve as a force multiplier, amplifying Russian falsehoods so they reach audiences outside of the diplomatic arena.  

It is important to acknowledge that Russian disinformation campaigns about biological weapons are not new. Since the early 2000s, Russia has continually spread disinformation about peaceful biological threat reduction activities, including those conducted through the Nunn-Lugar Cooperative Threat Reduction Program — a program that Russian itself was a participant in and that was established to dismantle the Soviet WMD architecture and re-employ Soviet bioweapons scientists in peaceful public health roles. For example, the Russian Federation has long alleged that the Richard Lugar Center in Georgia, which was built with funds from the Nunn-Lugar Program, is being used to research and develop biological weapons. Like the Ukrainian facilities described above, the Richard Lugar Center is a peaceful public health facility, one that contributed significantly to Georgia’s COVID-19 response. These more recent campaigns are also in line with historical efforts by the Soviet Union to spread disinformation about biological weapons. Russia’s current allegations regarding laboratories in Ukraine are a simply a continuation a decades-long effort to discredit other States Parties by accusing them of non-compliance.   

False allegations about biological weapons are designed to create confusion, accuse others of nefarious acts, and further a narrative of grievance. These include:

• Accusations that States Parties are using Article X of the BWC as a cover for prohibited activities.
• Suggesting that naturally occurring disease outbreaks are the result of biological weapons research.
• Claiming that biological facilities are conducting unethical experiments on human research subjects.
• Mischaracterizing research on natural disease vectors or animal hosts as efforts to spread pathogens deliberately.