UN Refutes Russia’s Claim Of Biological Weapons Use In Ukraine

Russia made claims in a UN security council accusing the United States and Ukraine of using banned biological weapons. The U.S. and its allied countries dismissed the accusations calling them mere disinformation and fabrication. The accusation was laid during the third UN security council meeting regarding Ukraine which was called by Russia on Tuesday.

According to AP News, Russia’s ambassador to the UN said that Moscow will not back down from its claims, and will pursue a UN investigation of military activities that violate the convention prohibiting the use of biological weapons.

Russia circulated a 310-page document among council members that alleged “military biological” activity on the Ukrainian front with the support of the U.S. Defense Department and their Western allies. Among the things included in the document was an official complaint to the council and a draft resolution that would authorize the Security Council to address Russia’s accusations via a commission.

The existence of U.S. biological warfare labs in Ukraine has been disputed by Ukrainian leaders, White House officials, as well as independent scientists since the start of the war in Ukraine. An Associated Press investigation in March said that the allegations took root online among QAnon and conspiracy theory forums.

Reports on the meeting showed that 35 states backed the U.S. in dismissing the allegations. While a few states backed Russia, the backing was only to support the consultation process, Russia’s right to request a meeting, and repeated some of the inquiries Russia had made to the U.S. and Ukraine. None of the states formally supported Russia’s allegations.

Article V which was triggered by Russia was said to be an example of their disinformation campaign on Biolabs located in Ukraine, claiming them to be U.S. bioweapons labs. Although there is a network of biological labs based in Ukraine, they are said to be owned by Ukraine and receive research support from the U.S. The alleged labs are part of an initiative called the Biological Threat Reduction program, with the goal of reducing the chances of a deadly outbreak of either natural or manmade origin. The initiative dates back to the 1990s with U.S. efforts to dismantle the former Soviet Union's weapons of mass destruction programs.