- For weeks, conspiracy theories have been circulating that the US and Ukraine were creating bioweapons.
- This theory was supported by prominent right-wing figures in America, as well as Russian and Chinese officials.
- The conspiracy theory circulated widely in QAnon communities on the internet.
In the early days of Russia’s invasion, conspiracy theories that the United States and Ukraine wanted to make biowarfare weapons circulated for weeks on far-right media outlets, proRussian Telegram channels and QAnon groups. These unfounded claims were quickly reprinted on primetime cable news and viewed millions upon millions of YouTube views.
Fox News’ Tucker Carlson is a comedian and Russell Brand is a YouTube host. This conspiracy theory has been fuelled by many other pundits, including Tucker Carlson (Fox News), and Russell Brand (YouTube host). These theories were previously limited to Russian state media and far-right message boards like 4chan. These claims have become so loud that U.S. officials and European officials have repeatedly resisted what they call a disinformation campaign in the last weeks.
On March 10, the Director for National Intelligence in the US spoke to the Senate Intelligence Committee. Avril HainesThe conspiracy theory, also called a “classic move by the Russians”That’s the same with longtime “efforts to accuse the United States of sponsoring bioweapons.”
The conspiracy theory is not dead. Officials from the Kremlin have Doubled downAccording to these claims, major right-wing figures as well as users of far-right chats online continue discussing it and adding new elements to the fictitious narrative. Experts say the episode shows how fringe conspiracies can enter mainstream media and how they can persist despite not having any evidence to support them.
Beatriz Buarque (a conspiracy theory researcher and doctoral student at the Centre for the Analysis of the Radical Right) told Insider that the theory is so well-known because it provides a narrative for the invasion which appeals to people who are distrustful of American institutions.
Conspiracy theories “satisfy human desire for explanations, often reducing complex events to a battle between ‘good’ and ‘evil,'” Buarque said. “Especially during moments of great uncertainty, they tend to thrive because they provide a sense of orientation.”
Russian officials and media gurus give the biolab conspiracy a lift
Nearly immediately after Russia invaded Ukraine in 2014, conspiracy theories began to circulate. After WarClandestine, now deceased, posted a thread on Twitter claiming that Russia was attacking Ukraine in order to destroy its biological laboratories, the hashtag #USBioLabs became a trending topic. Snopes is a fact-checking website. Politifact is also available The theories were coveredIt has rejected the claim as false, based on a poor understanding of programs that are aimed at reducing outbreaks.
The U.S. has not assisted Ukraine through its Department of Defense.Biological Threat Reduction ProgramThe BTRP, which is responsible for detecting pathogens and counteracting disease outbreaks, does not show evidence of any military or weapon-oriented program. According to the website of the US Embassy in Ukraine, the BTRP included building two new laboratories and upgrading several existing ones in Ukraine.
Buarque stated that Russia’s false framing the invasion as an attack against western elites using Ukraine for bioweapons production was a fitting fit for far-right conspiracists.
“To many far-righters, western governments and mainstream media are deceiving,” Buarque said. “Vladimir Putin explicitly expressed the same views while announcing the military operation.”
This theory was given even more attention by Russian officials who repeated it and expanded on it in March.
Russia Ministry of Defense spokesperson Igor Konashenkov claimed that Russian forces discovered the truth on March 6. “a US-financed military biological program,” AccordingRussian state-owned news media TASS. Maria Zakharova, spokesperson for Russia’s foreign ministry, repeated this claim Wednesday. AlluvialThe Ukrainian government was developing biowarfare abilities. Zhao Lijian, China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson, also reiterated Russia’s conspiracy earlier in this month. Made claimsU.S. biolabs are operating in Ukraine. The U.S. should publish its findings “biological military activities.”
Weibo is a Chinese microblogging platform that allows users to use hashtags to discuss conspiracy theories. At least 180 million times viewedAccording to The Washington Post:
Russian and Chinese media and officials have not provided any evidence to support their claims. This is something that the United States and Ukraine have both denied and fact-checking organisations have confirmed. Debunked. Instead, experts and U.S. representatives claim this is part of an ongoing Russian disinformation campaign that aims to justify the invasion of Ukraine.
European Union Foreign Spokesman Peter Stano stated March 9Credibility of the Kremlin is “very doubtful and low”And that Russia has “a track record of promoting manipulative narratives about biological weapons and alleged ‘secret labs.’ Meanwhile, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki called Russia’s claims “False” and “Preposterous” on Twitter.
The White House has claimed that the theory is being used to justify the Kremlin’s invasion, while suggesting that Russia could itself use chemical weapons — which the Geneva Protocol banned from use in warfare after World War I — and then blame Ukraine.
Conservative media outlets and other pundits have framed the White House denials as part of a cover up, selling the conspiracy as illicit knowledge that authorities don’t want the public to know about. Fox News host Tucker Carlson has repeated the conspiracy theory multiple times on air and claimed the US is lying about not manufacturing biological weapons in Ukraine. On Thursday night’s show, he echoed a Russian propaganda report that claimed Hunter Biden, a frequent target for conspiracy theories, was involved in the creation of biolabs in Ukraine.
Many of the top conservative news podcasts also discussed and supported the conspiracy theory, according to a Brookings Institute ReportThere are many episodes that focus on the claims, and some of them have multiple episodes.
Russell Brand, comedian, made similar comments on YouTube. He encouraged viewers to not trust. “propagandist narratives”Circulated by the “mainstream media”Information about Ukrainian laboratories. This episode was viewed over 1.7million times since it aired in March. Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene is who A historySpreading conspiracy theories and echoed Russia’s claims, which were also unsupported. On March 17, Introduced a billCongress “stop taxpayer funding of bioweapons.”
Russian propaganda has a history in spreading biological warfare claims
Caroline Orr Bueno (a behavioral scientist and disinformation researcher) told Insider the Kremlin’s biolab story is the latest in a long line of Russian disinformation operations about biowarfare.
Bueno stated that Russia’s biological conspiracy theories go back at least to the 1980s when the Soviet Union’s KGB launched a campaign to spread the false claim the United States has created HIV/AIDS. ClaimIt was the result military scientist experiments. Russian claims about U.S. bioweapons has been a common topic of Kremlin conversation.
“There have been a number of subsequent allegations involving other viruses and laboratories, including in 2016, when Russia falsely accused the US of constructing secret biolabs to manufacture biological weapons in Georgia and Kazakhstan,” Bueno said.
Russian media outlets are now widely knownAlmost identical false claimsAccording toThe EUvsDisinfo fact checking database.
Bueno indicated that the biolab conspiracy is also widely spread in QAnon community, including in Telegram chats, and among QAnon group members. It has spread to other members of the so-called biolab conspiracy. “Freedom Convoy” trucker protest in the United States. Numerous right-wing publications have a history of spreading conspiracy theories that are not true, includingAlex Jones’ InfoWarsAdditionally, they have published stories on the subject.
QAnon followers have taken up the Russian bioweapon narrative from Russia and given it to them “an American twist,” Bueno said. Bueno stated that there is a conspiracy theory within QAnon circles that Putin’s invasion of Ukraine is also targeting child traffickers as well as deep-state enemies. This could be with Donald Trump’s assistance.