China is lending a helping hand to Russia in spreading inflammatory and instantiated claims in the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine. Russia and China are spreading disinformation that the U.S. is financing biological weapons labs in Ukraine.
The United States has been quick to refute the claim, saying it is merely a conspiracy theory and a disinformation campaign. The United Nations said it has neither received any information nor proof that would substantiate the claim. However, lack of evidence has not stopped the conspiracy theory from proliferating.
It is the latest installment of a growing partnership between the two authoritarian countries. Weeks ago, China and Russia said their ties have “no limits.” It appears that part of their relationship is muddying the waters of the rationale for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The “information war” has been ongoing since before Russia invaded Ukraine. China’s Foreign Ministry has helped peddle Russia’s information in this war, repeating Russian claims several times this week alone, and calling for international investigations.
Russia, China and the United States are all signatories to an international conventions treaty that bans the use of chemical or biological weapons. The international community has assessed that Russia has used chemical weapons in attempts to assassinate the enemies of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Russia has also provenly used chemical weapons against Syrians in their ongoing support of Syrian President Assad.
But Russia is pointing the finger at the U.S., saying that their invading forces found evidence of attempts to hide biological weapons research taking place in Ukraine.
Russia and China have been doubling down on this claim in the past few days. Yesterday, the head of the Russian military’s radiation, chemical and biological protection troops, Igor Kirillov, said that the American-sponsored labs in three Ukraine cities — Kyiv, Kharkiv and Odesa — were working on dangerous pathogens to target specifically Russians and other Slavs.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov made similar claims on the same day, saying that the labs, under direction of the U.S., were working to “develop ethnically targeted biological weapons.”
China has been promoting the claim in its media especially, with headlines saying “Russia reveals evidence” and “China urges U.S. to disclose more details” in articles about bio-programs.
The U.N. Secretary Council has scheduled a meeting today at Russia’s demands to discuss the claim.
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