CGTN video rehashes baseless claim about U.S. biolabs in Ukraine

Key takeaway

The baseless claim about U.S. bioweapons labs in Ukraine is part of a years-long narrative propagated by the Russian government. It has been deployed on particular occasions to distract the public from Russia’s own use of chemical weapons, noted in high-profile poisonings, and as pretext to justify Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Ukraine joined the U.S. Biological Threat Reduction Program as a partner country in 2005. Through this program, the U.S. provides financial support and training to partner countries in order to reduce threats posed by biological agents. These laboratories are owned and funded by partner countries, not the U.S.

Reviewed content

Verdict:

Unsupported

Claim:

“U.S. biolabs in Ukraine” could be involved in “possible biological warfare”

Verdict detail

Unsupported: Despite this claim being promoted repeatedly by Russia and China, neither party has provided reliable evidence for the claim that there are U.S. bioweapons laboratories in Ukraine.
Misleading: The term “U.S. biolabs in Ukraine” implies that these laboratories are owned and run by the U.S. This isn’t the case. Under the Biological Threat Reduction Program, which Ukraine joined as a partner country in 2005, the U.S. provides training and financial support to partner countries, but the laboratories are funded and run by the partner country itself.

See our method of evaluation

Full Claim

“The question rises whether or not [U.S. biolabs in Ukraine] may not also have given a certain capability to a possible biological warfare”; “[E]xtensive paperwork at the labs and other evidence released by the Russian Ministry of Defense indicated that some very questionable experiments were being conducted”; “While the Russian concerns were initially rejected as ‘propaganda’ by the Western media, U.S. Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland admitted in March 2022 that ‘Ukraine has biological research facilities’”

A Facebook video published on 11 April 2023 by CGTN, a Chinese state-controlled media outlet, called for an investigation into “U.S. biolabs in Ukraine”, alleging that these laboratories are potentially used to develop biological weapons. The claim was made by William Jones, who works for Executive Intelligence Review (EIR), a publication founded by the conspiracy theorist Lyndon LaRouche that helped to promote LaRouche’s claims.

Jones’ claim about “U.S. biolabs in Ukraine” isn’t new. In fact, it’s a false narrative that has circulated for years, promoted by the Russian government, as EUvsDisinfo reported. This claim has been deployed at various points in time, such as during reports of poisonings conducted by Russian agents like the Skripal poisonings, to distract the public from Russia’s own use of chemical weapons. It was also deployed at the start of Russia’s war in Ukraine in February 2022, helping to justify Russian invasion of Ukraine under the guise of self-defense.

However, multiple fact-checking organizations, including PolitiFact and Health Feedback, debunked this claim. The term “U.S. biolabs in Ukraine” has become an euphemism for U.S. bioweapons laboratories in Ukraine, and Jones alluded to “possible biological warfare” in the video. However, there isn’t evidence that there are bioweapons laboratories in Ukraine, U.S.-operated or not. Izumi Nakamitsu, the UN High Representative for Disarmament Affairs, has stated that the United Nations is “not aware” of any biological weapons program in Ukraine.

Ukraine partnered with the U.S. in joining the Biological Threat Reduction Program in 2005. Through this program, the U.S. provides financial support and training to Ukrainian scientists in order to reduce threats posed by biological agents. The U.S. Embassy in Kyiv clarified in a statement that the Biological Threat Reduction Program aims to “counter the threat of outbreaks (deliberate, accidental, or natural) of the world’s most dangerous infectious diseases”.

These laboratories are owned and funded by partner countries, not the U.S., according to a statement by Chris Park, the Deputy Head of the U.S. Delegation to the Biological Weapons Convention, at a UN meeting in November 2021.

Acknowledgement of biological research facilities is not an admission of bioweapons

The video’s caption links to an article authored by Jones, which claimed that “While the Russian concerns were initially rejected as ‘propaganda’ by the Western media, U.S. Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland admitted in March 2022 that ‘Ukraine has biological research facilities’”. Jones also claimed that the Russian Ministry of Defense found “extensive” evidence showing “very questionable experiments” being conducted in these labs, but offered no source to support this claim. Health Feedback reached out to CGTN to verify the source of this claim and will update this review if new information becomes available.

Jones’ choice to frame Nuland’s statement as an admission implies that Russian concern over bioweapons in Ukraine laboratories turned out to be justified, but this is misleading as it distorts the meaning of her statement. Like the claim about “U.S biolabs”, this is also not a new claim. Political commentators Liz Wheeler and Dan Bongino misrepresented this particular sentence of Nuland’s in March 2022.

Going back to the origins of this claim, Nuland made that statement at a Senate hearing on 8 March 2022, in response to Senator Marco Rubio’s question “Does Ukraine have chemical or biological weapons?”

Nuland’s response was:

“Ukraine has biological research facilities, which, in fact, we are now quite concerned 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.”

At a Senate hearing on 10 March 2022, Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines clarified Nuland’s statement, explaining that biological labs in general, even those in high schools and college, “all have equipment, or pathogens, or other things that you want to have restrictions around because you need to make sure it is being treated and handled appropriately”.

“We have to be concerned in the same way that we have to be concerned about a nuclear power plant or other facilities that when they are seized, and if they are seized, that there may be damage done or theft. And they may in fact misuse some of the material that’s there, that’s not intended for weapon purposes, but nevertheless can be used in dangerous ways or that can create challenges for the local populations.”

In other words, Nuland’s statements weren’t a confirmation that the Russian claim about bioweapon labs is true. Rather, she had attempted to highlight how lab material can be repurposed in malicious ways, even when derived from facilities that aren’t bioweapon labs.

China, known to have friendly relations with Russia, has aided the spread of this false narrative, as shown by earlier articles published by Chinese state-controlled media Xinhua and CGTN. This recent video proves to be no exception. Both the video and Jones’ article simply employ the tactic of “just asking questions” but offer no evidence for the claim that the U.S. has bioweapons labs in Ukraine.