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WASHINGTON – Prominent social media users and conservative voices reinforce an unfounded theory Promoted by Russian state media He accuses the US of funding biological weapons laboratories in Ukraine.

There is no evidence to support the claims, which Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, White House, Pentagon and Ministry of Foreign Affairs All of them were categorically rejected.

There are biological laboratories within Ukraine and the United States since 2005. provided support for a series of prevent biological weapons production. But Fox News anchor Tucker Carlson and others have misleadingly cited statements from American officials as evidence that the labs are producing or conducting research on biological weapons.

“In a flash, the Biden official in charge of Ukraine confirmed the story,” Mr. Carlson said on Thursday night’s show. “Vice Secretary of State Victoria Nuland casually stated at a Senate hearing on Tuesday that yes indeed, the Biden administration is funding a number of biolabs in Ukraine.”

Kentucky Republican Representative Thomas Massie described Ms. Nuland’s words as follows: “seriously considered” The former president’s son, Donald Trump Jr., tweeted that his comments fueled the claim. “From conspiracy theory to reality.”

Mr. Carlson also cited an interview with Robert Pope, director of the Pentagon’s Cooperative Threat Reduction Program, which helps countries in the former Soviet Union secure or eliminate nuclear and chemical weapons.

Mr. Carlson continued in his section “As the Pope stated, scientists are scientists, they don’t want to destroy all biological weapons.” “Instead, they’re using them to conduct new bioweapons research — he said.”

Mr. Carlson misrepresented these words of Mrs. Nuland and Mr. Pope.

In this week’s convention statementFlorida Republican Senator Marco Rubio asked Nuland, the Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, if Ukraine had chemical or biological weapons.

“Ukraine has biological research facilities, actually we are quite worried right now that Russian troops may be trying to take control of Russian forces,” he replied. So we are working with the Ukrainians on how they can prevent any of these research materials from falling into the hands of Russian forces if they approach.”

Mr. Rubio, if there was a biological or chemical weapon attack inside Ukraine, would there be any doubt that Russia was behind it?

“There is no doubt in my mind that blaming the Senator and the other man is classic Russian technique,” replied Ms. Nuland.

The State Department said Ms. Nuland was referring to Ukrainian diagnostic and biodefense laboratories, which are different from biological weapons facilities during her deposition. Instead, these biodefense labs are countering biological threats across the country, the department said.

Mr. Rubio made the same statement at another congressional hearing on Thursday, stating that “there is a difference between a bioweapons facility and a research facility.”

While Mr Carlson referred to Mr Pope on Thursday, February interview Mr. Pope gave it to Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, a non-profit organization and publication.

Mr. Pope had warned that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine could damage US-sponsored laboratories in the country that conduct research and disease surveillance. He noted that some facilities may contain pathogens once used for Soviet-era biological weapons programs, but stressed that Ukrainian laboratories currently do not have the capability to produce biological weapons.

“There is still no place with any infrastructure to research or manufacture biological weapons,” Pope said. “As scientists scientists, it wouldn’t surprise me that some of these species collections in some of these labs still have strains of pathogens that go back to the origins of that program.”

Inside A March interview with the Bulletin of Atomic ScientistsMr. Pope also expressed Ms. Nuland’s concerns about the laboratories falling into Russian hands. He spoke specifically about the Pentagon’s support for 14 veterinary laboratories that provide Ukraine with sampling and diagnostic capabilities to detect infectious diseases.

“We are concerned that if Russian forces invade a city that has one of these facilities, Russia will produce ‘evidence’ of despicable activities to lend credibility to the ongoing disinformation about these facilities,” he said.

The United Nations Security Council met on Friday about Russia’s accusations of biological weapons in Ukraine. Izumi Nakamitsu, the UN’s High Representative for Disarmament Affairs,not aware of any bioweapons program”

Ukraine and Russia signed a treaty banning biological weapons. Although there is no independent body that verifies that countries are complying with the treaty known as the Biological Weapons Convention, Ms. Nakamitsu addressed any suspicions about a country’s peers by filing a complaint with the Security Council for reviewing annual reports and investigating possible violations. He pointed out that this reporting mechanism was “never enabled”.

For yearsRussia has claimed that ex-Soviet countries produce biological weapons in US-funded laboratories. Experts and journalists have found no evidence for these claims.

Filippa Lentzos, an expert on biological threats at King’s College London, wrote in 2018 He said he and other international experts were given full access to the Lugar Public Health Research Center, a laboratory in the country of Georgia that received funding from the United States.

Dr. “Our group did not observe anything unusual or anything that we would not expect to see in such a legitimate facility,” Lentzos wrote.

Similarly, crisis reporting outlet Coda Story Highly sensitive areas of the lab, including the “pathogen museum,” were shown, and Russian journalists also reported visiting and Russian scientists working there before.

“If this were a secret weapons facility, would we be this open to everyone?” The director of the lab told the publication.

Edward Wong contributing reporting.