NEWS//Bio-weapons in Ukraine, says China

March 11, 2022

Blog, News

China is accusing the US of ‘biological military activities’ in Ukraine. This claim was first raised by Russia on March 8.

China’s accusations

Zhao Lijian, a spokesperson for China’s Foreign Ministry, said in a press conference on the same day,

According to data released by the US, it has 26 bio-labs and other related facilities in Ukraine, over which the US Department of Defense has absolute control….
According to reports, a large quantity of dangerous viruses are stored in these facilities.
Russia has found during its military operations that the US uses these facilities to conduct bio-military plans.
The US, in particular, as the party that knows the labs the best, should disclose specific information as soon as possible, including which viruses are stored and what research has been conducted.

The U.S. response

U.S. Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland testified before a Senate panel on March 8 that "Ukraine has biological research facilities, which, in fact, we are quite concerned that Russian troops, Russian forces may be seeking to gain control of…. So we are working with the Ukrainians on how they can prevent any of those research materials from falling into the hands of Russian forces should they approach."

The White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki addressed the claims directly in a series of tweets.

We took note of Russia's false claims about alleged U.S. biological weapons labs and chemical weapons development in Ukraine. We've also seen Chinese officials echo these conspiracy theories," Psaki wrote. "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…."
[The U.S.] "is in full compliance with its obligations under the Chemical Weapons Convention and the Biological Weapons Convention and does not develop or possess such weapons anywhere…. This is all an obvious ploy by Russia to try...to justify its further premeditated, unprovoked, and unjustified attack on Ukraine."
"Now that Russia has made these false claims, and China has seemingly endorsed this propaganda, we should all be on the lookout for Russia to possibly use chemical or biological weapons in Ukraine, or to create a false flag operation using them. It's a clear pattern."

Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines told the Senate Intelligence Committee that Ukraine "operates a little over a dozen" biolabs for biodefense and public health response. She said the U.S. has, at least in the past, "provided assistance" to the labs "in the context of biosafety."

CIA Director William Burns on Thursday said that Russia’s accusations of chemical weapons “is very much a part of Russia’s playbook. They’ve used those weapons against their own citizens, they’ve at least encouraged the use in Syria and elsewhere; so it’s something we take very seriously.”

Sources: The Hill, Newsweek, ECNS, New York Times, Foreign Policy