Russia changed its story about bioweapons. Then Russia and China flooded the world with disinformation.
Part 2: Russia and China both simultaneously increased the number of posts made referencing the Ukraine-Bioweapons conspiracy theory.
China and Russia play the greatest hits of disinformation
Russia has been promoting its false bioweapons narrative from official accounts likely to reach people in many different countries like Turkey and Japan. In some cases, the posts led from one social media platform to another, which may have advantages if certain features are inaccessible to state-controlled accounts on one platform and not another.
The themes in this disinformation are reminiscent of narratives that Russia and China both spread in 2020 and 2021. The tweet embedded below is from May 2020.
Russian accounts defended China from calls for an investigation after China delayed sharing information about its outbreak with the world.
What differs in 2022 is the apparent degree of collaboration, which seems much more overt. Axios reported on March 9, 2022, that China had been purchasing ads on Meta—formerly known as Facebook—promoting pro-Kremlin talking points that downplayed the atrocities Russia is committing.
Russian state-controlled outlets RT and Sputnik News are now blocked in the EU as a response to Russia’s unprovoked aggression. Putin responded by blocking Facebook in Russia, although Kremlin-affiliates do still have access to the platform, and authors that write for multiple Russian outlets can still share RT and Sputnik content published via other websites that aren’t blocked.
Axios also reported that China has also censored what is happening in Ukraine within China. Censoring Russian aggression toward Ukraine domestically may protect the Chinese government from the public backlash against its support of Russia. An example of a Russian diplomatic account promoting the bioweapons narrative is embedded below.
Similar messages dramatically increased from both Russia and China at the same time
On March 6, state-controlled accounts belonging to Russia and China increased the number of posts they published referencing a Ukraine-US bioweapons conspiracy. Russia had changed its story from knowing the weapons were there before and saying the US wanted to maintain control (Mar 3) to a story where the Russians discover a sensational plot (Mar 9).
The combination of closely timed increases, mirroring articles in state-controlled outlets, use of diplomatic and outlet social media accounts, and nearly identical messaging may suggest Russia and China are coordinating their information operations. All posts have been attached to the end of this report in image format.
Russia
(136 tweets - March 6 to March 9)
(4 tweets - March 1 to March 5)
China
(50 tweets - March 6 to March 9)
(4 tweets - March 1 to March 5)
Both countries posted four times between March 1 and March 5 messages that included the word “biological.” This was a keyword that was sufficient to surface the tweets making the false claims.
Articles show Russia changed its story
On March 3, an Arabic RT channel posted that the Pentagon was concerned about biological weapons—something that is true. The US was concerned because laboratories in Ukraine hold Soviet-era bioweapons, which the Soviets continued to develop despite signing a treaty saying they would not.
The article doesn’t mention who created the biological weapons, nor does it cite that for the reason that Russia invaded Ukraine. As a reason for the invasion, the article says it was the threat of Ukraine attacking them first, although Ukraine has never attacked anyone offensively. Putin has also claimed to the Russian people that he is “denazifying” Ukraine, a false statement that builds on revisionist history.
On the threat of biological weapons, Arabic RT says:
The Russian Foreign Minister revealed that Moscow has information that the Pentagon is concerned about the situation around chemical and biological weapons laboratories in Ukraine, and the possibility of losing control over them.
Lavrov said: "For us, there is no escalation for the sake of escalation, as Western analysts are trying to attribute to us. Talking about nuclear war is now underway. I ask you to consider very carefully the statements made and the personalities who made these statements," noting that Talking about a third world war and about nuclear weapons was initiated by the West.
Here the Kremlin asserts that the West doesn’t want to lose control of the weapons and this is not the justification that Russia cites for invasion. By March 9, 2022, Russia had changed its story. Now Russia claims the US is afraid of being caught in violation although everything that is in Ukraine is public knowledge and has been for decades.
The video in the tweet comes with an English translation that says the programs were financed by the United States government. The US biological weapons program was terminated by executive order under US President Nixon on November 25, 1969.
The US, Russia, and other countries then signed a treaty in 1972 where countries agreed not to pursue these weapons of mass destruction. The biological weapons and research that now reside in Ukraine were illegal weapons produced by the Soviet Union. Russian President Boris Yeltsin admitted to having and he allegedly downsized the Soviet biological weapons program in 1992.
The US-funded program is a successful, now-30-year endeavor to secure Soviet bioweapons in Ukraine that also helped Soviet scientists, over 60,000 had worked in the program, to transition into peaceful work.
One scientist who worked for two decades on biological weapons for Russia gave testimony to Congress in 1999.
He stated that the original Soviet program included tularemia, epidemic typhus, and Q fever, but they expanded after World War 2 and added:
smallpox
plague
anthrax
Venezuelan equine encephalomyelitis
Glanders
brucellosis
Marburg infection.
Russia examined a range of diseases for potential use as a bioweapon, including:
Ebola
Junin virus (Argentinian hemorrhagic fever)
Machupo virus (Bolivian hemorrhagic fever)
yellow fever
Lassa fever
Japanese encephalitis
Russian spring-summer encephalitis.
Russia’s actions in Ukraine could include plans to reclaim its research and weapons, but even if that isn’t planned, the constant, reckless bombing and airstrikes could lead to an unintentional release. A more probable scenario is Russia using false claims about a bioweapons lab to “justify” the use of something extreme like chemical weapons.
Tweets
Russia
(136 tweets - March 6 to March 9)
(4 tweets - March 5 to March 1)
China
(50 tweets - March 6 to March 9)
(4 tweets - March 1 to March 5)
Iran (3 tweets)
