Any country with Russia on bioweapons claims effectively supports Ukraine attack, US says
South China Morning Post
5 min read
Any country giving "credibility" to claims by Moscow of US-funded bioweapon labs in Ukraine was effectively aligning itself with Russia's attack against Ukraine, the United States said on Friday, hours after a top Chinese diplomat said the unproven theories must be addressed.
Russia used an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council earlier in the day to allege an extravagant biological weapons conspiracy between the US and Ukraine, including a plot to weaponise migratory birds to spread pathogens around the world.
In a lengthy speech before the body, Russia's UN envoy, Vasily Nebenzya, said Moscow had uncovered evidence of an "emergency clean-up" by Kyiv of a military biological programme conducted by Ukraine with Washington's support.
Do you have questions about the biggest topics and trends from around the world? Get the answers with SCMP Knowledge, our new platform of curated content with explainers, FAQs, analyses and infographics brought to you by our award-winning team.
Vasily Nebenzya at the Security Council meeting on Friday. Photo: AP alt=Vasily Nebenzya at the Security Council meeting on Friday. Photo: AP>
The South China Morning Post was unable to verify the claims, which the US and Ukrainian governments have vehemently denied. On Friday, the UN High Representative for Disarmament Affairs, Izumi Nakamitsu, said the UN was "not aware of any biological weapons programmes" in Ukraine.
While not repeating any of the specific details of Russia's claims, China's UN envoy, Zhang Jun, said Beijing had "noted with concern" the information released by Moscow and said it "should be properly addressed".
Washington and its allies had a different take.
"What you heard from the Russian Federation, I think it's fair to say it rivals what you might see, what you might find on some of the darkest corners of the internet," said US State Department spokesman Ned Price.
Asked at a briefing about China's echoing of Russia's allegations, Price said: "The fact that any country would lend any bit of credence or credibility [to the claims] is disturbing. And it will, again, associate that country with any actions that the Russian Federation undertakes in Ukraine."
The US and others believe that Russia may be spreading the theories in order to provide cover for its own deployment of biological or chemical agents as part of a "false flag" incident.
"We've been repeatedly convinced: if you want to know Russia's plans, look at what Russia accuses others of," Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said in a video address on Thursday, as his country entered its third week under attack by Russian forces.
Friday's extraordinary Security Council meeting, taking place at the very heart of global diplomacy in New York, provided the most prominent platform yet for Moscow's unfounded claims that it had uncovered evidence of US-funded bioweapon programmes in Ukraine, as well as China's amplification of those allegations.
"In many ways what the Security Council will become is theatre - theatre both for the compelling remarks of a country under siege like Ukraine, but also theatre for the performance of disinformation dramas," said Brett Bruen, a former White House director of global engagement during the Obama administration.
The conspiracy theories gained traction this week when a senior US State Department official confirmed to lawmakers that Ukraine did in fact operate a number of biological research facilities.
But speaking before the Security Council, Washington's UN envoy stressed that Ukraine's biological research facilities - and US support thereof - revolved around public health and had "absolutely nothing to do with biological weapons".
In her remarks on Friday, Linda Thomas-Greenfield accused Moscow of using the venue to "legitimise disinformation and deceive people to justify President Putin's war of choice against the Ukrainian people".
China, she added, was "spreading disinformation in support of Russia's outrageous claims".
Zhang Jun highlighted China's commitment to biosafety and security. Photo: AFP alt=Zhang Jun highlighted China's commitment to biosafety and security. Photo: AFP>
In response, China's Zhang rejected Washington's "groundless allegation", and said that concerns about supposed US biological military activities were shared by the "international community", even as the claims were roundly denounced by other Security Council members.
While not mentioning the US or Ukraine by name, he called on "relevant parties" to implement their obligations under the Biological Weapons Convention - a disarmament treaty to which the US, Ukraine and Russia are all signatories - and accept multilateral verification.
"China attaches great importance to biosafety and security, and consistently stands for complete prohibition and thorough destruction of all WMDs, including biological weapons," said Zhang, calling on any country that had not yet destroyed its stockpiles of chemical weapons "to do so as soon as possible".
A senior US defence official said on Friday that the US had no intelligence indicating that the aligned messaging coming out of Moscow and Beijing was the result of an organised, collaborative effort.
"But it's just a further indication of the degree to which China continues to offer tacit approval for what the Russians are doing," the official told reporters, speaking on condition of anonymity.
While calling for a ceasefire in Ukraine, Chinese officials have not directly criticised Russia's invasion of Ukraine and have abstained from votes at the UN denouncing the attack.
The amplification of Russia's bioweapon claims by the Chinese government was in part due to a desire by Beijing to "justify its somewhat cautious support for Russia's ambitions", said Bruen, the former White House official who is now president of Global Situation Room, a consultancy.
"So anything that furthers the rationale for what Russia is doing, China is likely to be supportive of," he said.
