- Russia’s claim could be a pretext for it launching its own biological weapons attack on Ukraine.
- We know that because WHO is urging Ukraine to destroy any highly dangerous agents in its laboratories.
- Russia’s support of the Syrian regime while it deployed chemical weapons.
On Friday, the UN Security Council convened at Russia’s request to address Moscow’s assertions that the US is sponsoring “military biological activities” in Ukraine, i.e. surreptitiously creating deadly weapons in Ukrainian laboratories as reported by The Guardian.
What is the dispute?
There was a lot of discussion at the event. Vasily Nebenzya, Russia’s UN envoy, raised the alarming prospect of an “uncontrolled spread of bioagents from Ukraine” across Europe. Linda Thomas-Greenfield, his American equivalent, cautioned that Russia’s allegation may be used as a justification for conducting its own biological weapons strike on Ukraine.
So, what exactly is the debate about, and what is going on inside Ukraine?
How did “bio labs” become the latest front?
Last Sunday the Russian ministry of foreign affairs posted a tweet accusing the US and Ukrainian governments of running a secret “military-biological programme” inside the stricken country.
Moscow claimed that its invading forces had discovered evidence of an “emergency clean-up” to hide the programme.
Moscow went on to claim that it had found documents related to the secret US operation in laboratories in the Ukrainian cities of Kharkiv and Poltava.
The allegations were quickly amplified by China, which supported the claims during Friday’s UN security council debate.
The theory also took on a life of its own on social media under the hashtag #usbiolabs and found a welcome home among rightwing outlets in the US including the War Room podcast of Donald Trump’s former White House adviser Steve Bannon and the Fox News primetime show hosted by Tucker Carlson.
How have the US and Ukrainian governments responded?
Both the US and Ukraine have categorically denied that they are developing any biological weapons inside the country.
At Friday’s meeting, the US ambassador to the UN, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, said: “I will say this once: ‘Ukraine does not have a biological weapons program.’ “
She went on to turn the accusation back on Moscow.
Ukraine’s ambassador to the world body, Sergiy Kyslytsya, used more colourful language.
He called the idea being advanced by Russia “a bunch of insane delirium”.
What are independent world bodies saying?
The World Health Organization (WHO) has said it is unaware of activity by Ukraine violating any international treaty, including the ban on biological weapons.
The UN high commissioner for disarmament, Izumi Nakamitsu, confirmed that the UN was not aware of any biological weapons programmes in Ukraine.
Nakamitsu pointed to the Biological Weapons Convention, which has prohibited the development and use of biological weapons since 1975.
The convention was backed by then-president Richard Nixon, who in 1969 also put a stop to the US developing its own offensive biological weapons.
Is the US supporting them?
Ukraine does operate biological laboratories which receive US funding.
The US undersecretary of state Victoria Nuland affirmed those facts in a Senate foreign relations committee hearing this week in which the Republican senator Marco Rubio asked her directly whether Ukraine had biological weapons.
Nuland did not answer the question head-on.
“Ukraine has biological research facilities,” she replied, adding that there was concern that Russian forces were trying to gain control of the labs.
In fact, US funding to the laboratories had its roots in the fall of the Soviet Union after which money was pumped into Ukraine and other former Soviet countries to help them transfer scientific skills away from weapons programmes towards public health initiatives.
The scheme was originally known as the Cooperative Threat Reduction (CTR) programme but is now more commonly referred to as the biological engagement programme.
Do the labs store dangerous biological agents?
As part of their work researching diseases, the bio labs do seem to hold dangerous pathogens.
We know that because WHO is urging Ukraine to destroy any highly dangerous agents in its laboratories to avoid the risk of a disastrous outbreak should one of the labs be hit under a Russian attack.
“As part of this work, WHO has strongly recommended to the ministry of health in Ukraine and other responsible bodies to destroy high-threat pathogens to prevent any potential spills,” the UN health agency said.
The WHO has worked in Ukraine for several years helping the bio labs improve their safety and security, so it knows what it is talking about.
Is there nothing to worry about?
In addition to the threat of pathogens held in Ukrainian labs leaking out or falling into the hands of Russian forces, there is the threat of Russia potentially launching its own biological weapons attack.
The assessment of the US state department is that Russia continues to maintain an offensive biological weapons programme in violation of the convention that it has signed.
Earlier this week, the White House press secretary, Jen Psaki, accused Russia under Vladimir Putin of having a “long and well-documented track record” of using chemical weapons, pointing to the poisoning of the opposition leader Alexei Navalny and Russia’s support of the Syrian regime while it deployed chemical weapons.
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Source: The Guardian
