The World Health Organization (WHO) has reportedly advised Ukraine to destroy high-threat pathogens housed in the country's public health laboratories before they fall into the hands of the Russian military. Russia is continuing to pile on disinformation about biological weapons in Ukraine, but aside from this flurry of false claims, there are some genuine concerns about biological research labs caught in the middle of the conflict. The WHO told Reuters that they have recommended to the Ministry of Health in Ukraine and others to destroy samples of high-threat pathogens to prevent any "accidental or deliberate release of pathogens." They didn’t provide any information about the types of pathogens held in Ukraine's laboratories, nor did they confirm whether its recommendations were followed. Ukraine has dozens of public health laboratories that research pathogens and dangerous diseases, some of which have received financial backing from the US, the European Union, and the WHO. Due to these links to Europe and the US, Russia is claiming that some of these facilities are US-backed bioweapon labs. On March 6, the Russian ministry of foreign affairs posted a tweet saying their “special military operation” in Ukraine found evidence of a secret “military-biological program” financed by the US. Russian state television has also made fake claims that biological weapons are being developed in laboratories in Ukraine with support from the US and NATO allies. To top it all off, Moscow brought up the issue at the United Nations' security council meeting on Friday — but provided no hard evidence. The White House has repeatedly denounced this claim as “preposterous disinformation,” a sentiment backed up by several independent experts. While Ukraine does have several biological research labs, there is no evidence that any are involved in weapons research. “Russia has been going on about the labs in Ukraine for some years now. I have seen no evidence to support Russia’s claims,” said Professor Alastair Hay, Professor Emeritus of Environmental Toxicology at the University of Leeds “As I understand it these labs are generally involved in disease surveillance,” added Professor Hay. Beyond the fake news coming out of Russia, biosecurity fears in Ukraine have been raised in the US. In congressional testimony on March 8, Senator Marco Rubio asked Victoria Nuland, the undersecretary of state for political affairs, whether Ukraine has chemical or biological weapons. She replied saying Ukraine has biological research facilities that Russia is currently trying to get hold of. Nuland added that the US is working with Ukraine to prevent these samples from being obtained by occupying Russian forces. She suspects that rumors about Ukraine toying with biological weapons is a false flag operation being used by Russia to justify future attacks using biological weapons. “It is classic Russian technique to blame the other guy [for] what they’re planning to do themselves,” said Nuland. There has also been misinformation about Ukraine using “ethnic-specific bio-agents” to target Russians. However, experts doubt this kind of technology is even possible to make at this time. “This claim belongs purely in the realm of science fiction! Humans are just too genetically similar to find something that would affect only certain some people and not others,” commented Professor Oliver Jones, Head Biosciences and Food Technology at RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia. "You can’t tell which country someone is from let alone their possible ethnicity from DNA so there is no way to make any sort of agent, biological or otherwise, that could affect one ethnic groups and not others. It is just not going to happen," added Professor Jones. Source
