The Kremlin and the 'US far-right' are promoting the same bogus Ukraine conspiracy theory: report
Much of the world has been horrified by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the thousands of deaths that have resulted from it. But in the United States, some MAGA Republicans have been apologists for the invasion — claiming that Russian President Vladimir Putin is acting in self-defense and promoting the Kremlin conspiracy theory that bioweapons were being manufactured in Ukraine.
Toronto-based journalist Justin Ling, in an article published by Foreign Policy on March 10, explains, “In less than two weeks, a conspiracy theory about Ukrainian biolabs has gone from a fringe QAnon Twitter account to becoming a major rallying cry for both Russian President Vladimir Putin’s regime and the U.S. far-right. Now, the White House says it may be used by Putin as cover for a bioweapons attack on Ukraine.”
The “U.S. far-right figures” who have promoted the Ukraine/biolabs conspiracy theory, Ling notes, have included “War Room” host Steve Bannon and QAnon’s Ron Watkins.
“Bannon’s ‘War Room’ podcast heard from former Trump apparatchik Peter Navarro that health advisor Anthony Fauci was at the center of everything,” Ling writes. “‘Whatever happened in the Ukraine,’ Navarro said about those biolabs, ‘he had to know about it.’”
Another far-right MAGA Republican who has been promoting the Ukraine/biolabs conspiracy theory is Fox News’ Tucker Carlson — a major Putin apologist.
“Carlson’s conclusion that these ‘secret’ labs posed an existential threat and the United States and Ukraine were uniquely to blame for it is cribbed directly from Russia’s propaganda efforts of the past decade — and, particularly, from the last week,” Ling notes. “This all lines up with what Russia itself is saying.”
At a press conference, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova claimed, “It can be concluded that components of biological weapons were being developed in Ukrainian biolabs located in close vicinity of our border. The emergency destruction of dangerous pathogens on February 24 was a necessary step aimed at concealing the fact that Ukraine and the U.S. had violated Article 1 of the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention.”
Meanwhile, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki and others in the Biden Administration are warning that it is Russia, Putin and the Kremlin — not Ukraine — that the world needs to worry about when it comes to the possibility of chemical weapons being used on innocent people.
On March 9, Psaki devoted an entire Twitter thread to the subject, posting:
We took note of Russia\u2019s false claims about alleged U.S. biological weapons labs and chemical weapons development in Ukraine. We\u2019ve also seen Chinese officials echo these conspiracy theories.— Jen Psaki (@Jen Psaki) 1646862487
This is preposterous. It\u2019s the kind of disinformation operation we\u2019ve seen repeatedly from the Russians over the years in Ukraine and in other countries, which have been debunked, and an example of the types of false pretexts we have been warning the Russians would invent.— Jen Psaki (@Jen Psaki) 1646862488
It\u2019s Russia that has a long and well-documented track record of using chemical weapons, including in attempted assassinations and poisoning of Putin\u2019s political enemies like Alexey Navalny.— Jen Psaki (@Jen Psaki) 1646862488
Also, Russia has a track record of accusing the West of the very violations that Russia itself is perpetrating. In December, Russia falsely accused the U.S. of deploying contractors with chemical weapons in Ukraine.— Jen Psaki (@Jen Psaki) 1646862489
