Russia says the U.S. is making bioweapons in Ukraine. Here’s the reality
Global News
False claims are spreading online that Putin is trying to destroy U.S.-funded bioweapons labs in Ukraine. There's just one problem with this claim — it's completely made up.
To hear some corners of the internet tell it, Russian President Vladimir Putin has a very good reason for invading Ukraine: the destruction of U.S.-funded bioweapons labs in the region.
There’s just one problem with this allegation — experts have visited the labs tied to this program, and found the claim isn’t true.
The conspiracy theory has picked up traction in recent days, breaking free from Telegram chat rooms and Facebook comments to a new platform: international news. Fox News’ Tucker Carlson took centre stage in television sets across the continent Wednesday night and delivered an impassioned monologue about the “secret labs in Ukraine.”
“The Russian disinformation they’ve been telling us for days is a lie, and a conspiracy theory, and crazy, and immoral to believe — is in fact totally and completely true,” Carlson said on air.
He speculated about what they could be “doing” in the labs, adding he has to “assume” there’s a “military application” to the research.
He made that leap based on a clip he aired of U.S. Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs, Victoria Nuland, who testified during a U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing this week.
When pressed on whether Ukraine has chemical or biological weapons, Nuland replied that Ukraine has “biological research facilities.”
“We are now quite concerned Russian troops, Russian forces may be seeking to gain control of (those facilities),” Nuland added.
