US refutes Russia’s ‘biowarfare labs in Ukraine’ allegation, calls it ‘preposterous’

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The US has refuted Russian claims that it operates biowarfare labs in Ukraine, calling the assertions “preposterous” and warned that Moscow may try to deploy chemical or biological weapons during its current attack against its neighbour. On March 9, the US denied the allegations made by Russia, which claimed that Washington was collaborating with Kyiv to develop biological weapons along the Ukraine-Russia border.

In a series of tweets, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki labeled the Russian assertion preposterous, and said that Moscow has a lengthy and well-documented track record of utilizing chemical weapons. She mentioned attempted killings and poisoning of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s political opponents, including opposition leader Alexei Navalny.

We took note of Russia’s false claims about alleged US biological weapons labs and chemical weapons development in Ukraine. We’ve also seen Chinese officials echo these conspiracy theories.

— Jen Psaki (@PressSec) March 9, 2022

This is preposterous. It’s the kind of disinformation operation we’ve seen repeatedly from the Russians over the years in Ukraine and in other countries, which have been debunked, and an example of the types of false pretexts we have been warning the Russians would invent.

— Jen Psaki (@PressSec) March 9, 2022 US State Dept. & Pentagon slam Russian assertions

The Russian assertions were also slammed by the US State Department and the Pentagon. In a statement, US State Department spokesman Ned Price accused Russia of inventing false pretexts in order to justify its own horrific actions in Ukraine, adding that the US was fully compliant with its obligations under the Chemical Weapons Convention and the Biological Weapons Convention, and it does not develop or possess such weapons anywhere.

Moreover, the Russian charges, according to Pentagon spokesman John Kirby, are absurd, laughable and a bunch of malarkey. Furthermore, China was also accused by US officials of echoing Moscow’s conspiracy theories. On the other hand, Ukraine has also dismissed Russia’s assertions, with a spokesperson of President Volodymyr Zelensky stating that Kyiv strictly denies any such allegation.

Zakharova blamed US of violating Article 1 of Biological & Toxin Weapons Convention

Moscow, however, remained silent for the time being. Earlier on Wednesday, a Russian foreign ministry spokesperson demanded that Washington divulge details regarding what she described as its criminal activities in Ukraine. Maria Zakharova claimed that Russia had documentation proving that the Ukrainian health ministry had ordered the destruction of plague, cholera, anthrax, and other pathogen samples before Russian soldiers entered Ukraine on February 24.

The documents discovered by Russian forces in Ukraine, according to Zakharova, reflect an emergency attempt to remove evidence of military biological programs funded by the Pentagon.

She said, “It can be concluded that components of biological weapons were being developed in Ukrainian biolabs located in close vicinity of our border. The emergency destruction of dangerous pathogens on February 24 was a necessary step aimed at concealing the fact that Ukraine and the US had violated Article 1 of the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention.”

Meanwhile, the Chinese Foreign Ministry warned on Tuesday that the US controls 336 labs in 30 countries, including 26 in Ukraine alone. It also demanded that the United States provide a detailed account of its biological military activities at home and abroad, and submit the same for multilateral verification.

Ukraine has previously stated that it has public health laboratories working on ways to reduce the threat of hazardous diseases that impact both animals and humans, like many other countries do. The US, the European Union, and the World Health Organization have all lent their support to the laboratories, and the Pentagon’s Biological Threat Reduction Program has been working with the Ukrainian government to assure the security of diseases and toxins held there.

(With inputs from agencies) Image: AP

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