russian fake. maria zakharova. biological laboratories in Ukraine. fake news

According to russian propaganda, experiments are being conducted on people in Ukraine. This false story has been repeated by representatives of putin's regime for more than 10 years. Recently, it was repeated by russian Deputy Foreign Minister maria zakharova. Of course, the words of this official were picked up by many kremlin media outlets and bloggers.

In particular, zakharova said at a briefing with journalists:"We have repeatedly drawn the attention of the international community to the dangerous and uncontrolled military-biological activities of the US outside its national territory, in particular in Ukraine. <...> We emphasise that after a long time, despite the lack of any clear response from the American authorities, our questions have been heard by the American expert community, which has already begun to take an active interest in this topic."
Neither zakharova nor the kremlin media specified that the ‘American expert community’ is in fact pro-russian blogger Tucker Carlson. Not long ago, he posted an interview with Cornell University chemistry professor David Collum on YouTube. The interview was published only with russian dubbing, so Collum's answers in English cannot be heard. In the dubbing, he says: ‘There were about 36 American-built biolaboratories in Ukraine. Yes. So why is Ukraine ideal? A biolaboratory needs first-class infrastructure and people from the third world are bad for testing. Ukraine has practically all of that.’
Collum provides no evidence of the existence of biolaboratories. He then recounts an old and already debunked (https://apnews.com/article/fact-checking-410618634223) conspiracy theory that former head of the American Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Anthony Fauci conducted clinical trials on foster children, leading to their deaths (in fact, the children did participate in clinical trials related to HIV and AIDS, but at the time they were seriously ill — 25 of the 532 children died from AIDS-related complications).
In general, Tucker's interview with Collum consists of them mostly singing each other's praises, telling their listeners popular conspiracy theories that they pass off as truth. Back in 2018, Collum denied that the kremlin's special services had poisoned their former agent in London (the poisonous substance ‘Novichok’, which originated in russia, caused the deaths of two people, but Collum believes that any student at his institute could create this chemical weapon).
In 2020, the Cornell University administration removed Collum from his position as director of the chemistry department's undergraduate programme at the request of students after numerous controversial statements and comments. Collum's claim about ‘36 Ukrainian biolaboratories’ was made back in November 2024. At that time, he referred to a video featuring Republican Party representative Tulsi Gabbard (now head of US National Intelligence). In the video, Gabbard claims that there are ‘25 to 30 biolaboratories in Ukraine funded by the US government.’ According to her, these biological laboratories are located in a combat zone and, if damaged, could spread ‘deadly pathogens’ that would cause ‘unbearable suffering and death’ around the world. On this basis, Hubbard called on the administration of Joe Biden, who was then President of the United States, to start negotiations with russia and Ukraine to achieve an immediate ceasefire. However, Hubbard has long been known for repeating russian propaganda narratives.
It should be noted that no reputable international media outlet has published any information about ‘illegal biological laboratories’ in Ukraine or such laboratories located in combat zones over the years. This fake news was created to worsen the world's perception of Ukraine as a threat to world peace.
Based on materials from Stopfake.org
See also the fake news story about Ukraine using chemical weapons.