WAR PROPAGANDA: The EU fears the tuberculosis synthesized in NATO labs in Ukraine

WAR PROPAGANDA: The EU fears the tuberculosis synthesized in NATO labs in Ukraine
© EPA-EFE/ZBIGNIEW MEISSNER   |   A medical personnel works at medical point for Ukrainian refugees near the train station in Katowice, southern Poland, 19 March 2022.

The EU is screening all Ukrainian refugees for a strain of tuberculosis engineered in NATO secret laboratories on the territory of Ukraine, the Russian media claims. This is the latest in a string of false narratives whereby Russia is trying to legitimize its aggression, claiming Ukraine is allegedly developing biological weapons with support from the West.

NEWS: “Ukrainian refugees are tested for tuberculosis in the European Union, since NATO’s biological experiments in Ukraine are well-known, the spokesperson of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova told a press briefing on May 18.

“Do you know what they are testing the Ukrainians’ samples for in the EU? Tuberculosis. Why? Because they know what NATO agencies have been doing there”, the Russian official said.

Previously, Maria Zakharova promised to provide updates about experiments conducted in US biological laboratories in Ukraine. In particular, she is expected to provide details on experiments carried out on humans”.

NARRATIVE: Ukrainian refugees are tested in the EU for tuberculosis engineered in NATO laboratories.

WHY THE NARRATIVE IS FALSE: After Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, EU Member States didn’t introduce any new border controls for Ukrainians. On the contrary, they liberalized the protocol to smoothen the process. Mothers with children without any passports were allowed in. The EU also lifted the requirement to present anti-COVID-19 vaccination certificates, as well as the obligation to present passports for pets. The new simplified crossing procedures addressing Ukrainian citizens were published by the European Commission.

Additionally, the EU also allowed Ukrainian citizens to stay on EU territory for a longer period of time, providing them with the right to seek employment for a period of up to 9 months, which wouldn’t have been possible before. The EU provisions regulating the admission, stay or transit of EU territory make no mention of tuberculosis testing.

As regards the metanarrative about Ukrainian laboratories producing or developing biological weapons, Veridica.ro debunked a number of fake news on this topic. In March, the Russian media wrote that Ukraine’s secret laboratories in Ukraine were synthesizing coronavirus. At the start of the invasion, Kremlin officials said Russia has destroyed the American bioweapon labs in Ukraine. In April, the Russian media claimed that Ukraine attacked Russian-held positions using chemical and biological weapons dispersed by military drones. In fact, the Russian state media and the Ministry of Defense in Moscow presented an agricultural drone in southern Ukraine as allegedly being retrofitted equipped to disperse chemical and biological weapons!

This false narrative actually goes way back. Ever since 2020, the United States Embassy in Kyiv reacted, claiming there are no American secret laboratories on the territory of Ukraine. At the same time, in 2007, Ukraine ratified the Convention on the non-proliferation of biological weapons.

So far, Moscow has presented no clear-cut evidence attesting to the existence of such laboratories, although it justified its attacks on Ukrainian cities as mandatory actions aimed at destroying these labs.

The purpose of these propaganda narratives is to legitimize Russia’s aggressive actions in Ukraine, presenting them as a series of necessary measures designed to destroy laboratories developing biological weapons.

  • Publication / Media:
    Komsomolskaia Pravda
  • Date of publication:
    18/05/2022
  • Target audience:
    The Russian-speaking population in Russia and in ex-Soviet republics
  • Amplification:
    TASS, Mykolaiv.news, Vremya, Russian TV stations, the Telegram accounts of Russian media outlets
  • Political affiliation:
    The Kremlin
  • Key narrative:
    The EU fears the tuberculosis synthesized in NATO labs in Ukraine
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