A virus intentionally emerges from a lab to wipe out thousands of people. Does it remind you of anything? After the summer of 2020 marked by suspicions of a biological leak at the origin of Covid-19, Russia accuses its American rival of financing a program “for the stealthy propagation of deadly pathogens” on Ukrainian soil. Clearly, the power led by Joe Biden would participate in the search for biological agents capable of killing, on purpose, thousands of people. The spokesman for the Russian Defense Ministry, Igor Konashenkov, even argues that his country has proof of the existence of these biological weapons.
It didn’t take long for the White House to brush aside these accusations and return them to sender. “The Kremlin is intentionally spreading outright lies,” US Foreign Minister Ned Price said in a statement on Wednesday March 9. Questioned during a parliamentary hearing the day before, the number 3 of American diplomacy, Victoria Nuland, had however confirmed that Ukraine did have “biological research facilities”, but without warlike aim. In 2018, Russia had already accused the United States of secretly carrying out biological experiments in a laboratory in Georgia, another former Soviet republic which, like Ukraine, aims to join NATO and the European Union (EU ).
- What is a biological research program?
It is currently very difficult to know what is happening within these research facilities. The United States, through Victoria Nuland, confirms the existence of these programs. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova announced that Russia “has documents showing that plague, cholera or anthrax diseases are stored there”.
Washington and Kiev have denied and called the accusations “absurd”. Asked by the Republican Senator, Marco Rubio, to find out if Ukraine possessed biological weapons, Victoria Nuland answered no. But she said she was worried about the possibility that so-called “sensitive” research “could fall into the hands” of Moscow.
- What is a biological weapon?
It is a germ that is kept active in laboratories in order to use it for war purposes to attack the enemy population. These pathogenic agents make it possible to weaken armies or civilian populations by making them unfit for resistance to combat. They can also kill enemies. But the power of this weapon is such that it has been classified, in international law, as a “weapon of mass destruction”.
Its use is formally prohibited by several conventions such as the Geneva Protocol (1925), or the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production and Stockpiling of Bacteriological Weapons (1972). More than 180 countries have ratified it, including Ukraine, the United States and Russia.
- What does Moscow accuse Washington of?
The Russian media and authorities have been suggesting for several days that Kiev is on the verge of using bacteriological weapons in secret laboratories financed by Washington. In a context where free information in Russia has suffered repeated attacks since the beginning of the war, the newspapers and television stations repeat the declarations of the spokesperson for the Ministry of Defence. According to Igor Konashenkov, there are about thirty secret laboratories in Ukraine.
Monday, the tabloid Komsomolskaya Pravda went further. According to the writings of the newspaper, in Kharkiv, Ukrainian soldiers were requisitioned for experiments before spreading the virus. The media even put forward figures: 20 dead and 200 hospitalized. All sick with cholera. Nothing currently proves these accusations of a media in the hands of the Kremlin.
- Why is the West worried about these accusations?
According to the British daily The Guardian, the British and American governments also fear that Russia will use these accusations to justify, particularly on the domestic level, the use of chemical or even nuclear weapons. By brandishing the threat of the prohibited biological weapon, the Kremlin would be more apt in the eyes of its population to resort to a prohibited weapon.
“Now that Russia has made these false claims, we should all be on the lookout for Russia’s possible use of chemical or biological weapons in Ukraine, or creating a false flag operation using them,” he said. tweeted White House press secretary Jen Psaki. During the Syrian civil war, the Russian army notably used chemical weapons…