US lists Russia's propaganda on chemical & biological weapons in new GEC report

US State Department on May 12 hit back at Russia for accusing the Biden administration officials of funding and operating the military-biological labs in Ukraine to make chemical weapons. “Kremlin has a track record of accusing the West of the very violations that the Russian government itself is perpetrating,” US State Department said in its first response since Russia earlier yesterday indicted Democratic Party leaders as "main ideologues" researching the bioweapons in Kyiv. 

“We are concerned that Russia is once again spreading disinformation about chemical weapons,” argued the US State Department on May 12. 

Russia has operationalized the concept of perpetual adversarial competition by encouraging the development of a disinformation and propaganda ecosystem, the US State Department asserted. It further accused Kremlin of propelling false narratives to strategically advance its 'policy goals' during the war. “Everything from human rights and environmental policy to assassinations and civilian-killing bombing campaigns is fair targets in Russia’s malign playbook,” US State Department stated on Thursday.

Kremlin created and spread disinformation in a similar fashion during the Russo-Georgian war of 2008 as in Ukraine, as per the US. Russia’s intelligence services created, tasked, and influenced websites that pretend to be news outlets to spread lies and sow discord.

US releases GEC report lists Kremlin’s 'disinformation campaign on Chemical weapons'

US State Department’s Global Engagement Center [GEC], in its declassified report on the Kremlin’s “disinformation campaign on Chemical weapons,” listed an executive summary of Moscow’s propaganda ecosystem during its many military interventions. As Russia entered the Syrian conflict in 2015, it “reinforced” its partnership with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. And despite that his regime was involved in the use of chemical weapons that would hold Syrian officials accountable for the August 2013 chemical weapons attack on Ghouta, which killed an estimated 1,400 civilians, Kremlin “repeatedly used disinformation to distract and obfuscate its ally’s responsibility for these attacks." 

Russian, Syrian and others gather next to an American military convoy stuck in the village of Khirbet Ammu. Credit: AP

After the UN Security Council established the OPCW-UN Joint Investigation Mechanism (JIM) and confirmed that the Syrian military forces were responsible for three chlorine-barrel bomb attacks in 2014-2015, as well as the April 4, 2017 Sarin attack on Khan Shaykhun, Moscow repeatedly exercised its veto on UNSC resolutions that would have extended the mandate of the JIM.

When the United States troops launched an airstrike on the Syrian Shayrat airbase from which Assad’s planes dropped chemical weapons on Khan Shaykhun, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitri Peskov backtracked, stating that “all Syrian armed forces’ chemical weapons stockpiles were eliminated." This was registered and confirmed by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW). 

Kremlin had also supported the use of inauthentic personas, bots, and trolls following the Khan Shaykhun attack to spread propaganda as it now does in Ukraine, US State Department said.  In 2017, Russian military’s television channel TV Zvezda falsely claimed Ukraine had delivered chemical weapons to the Middle East. 

On one other occassion during the Syrian armed conflict, Russia claimed that the United States military trained insurgents near al-Tanf in order to hold provocations with chemical weapons in the south of Syria. It also fabricated, that the Jabhat al-Nusra armed formations with support of so-called ‘White Helmets’ were preparing a staged chemical attack near the settlements of al-Habid and Qalb Luza located 25 km northwest of Syria’s capital Idlib. Kremlin argued that at least 20 containers with chloride have been delivered there.

“Jabhat al-Nusra is a terrorist organization and the White Helmets do not work with terrorist organizations,” asserted the US State Department in its GEC report. 

Russia's President Putin with Syria President Bashar-al-Assad. Credit: AP

Russia's Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu with Syria President Bashar-al-Assad. Credit: AP

In 2018, Russian Federation used a ‘military-grade chemical weapon’ in the UK when Russian military intelligence (GRU) attempted to assassinate Sergey Skripal, a military intelligence officer of Moscow who acted as a double agent for the UK's intelligence services. Kremlin had accused Skripal of supplying sensitive Russian intelligence to Europe and the United States security services officers. A British couple was poisoned by the same agent in nearby Amesbury after one of them came in contact with an abandoned perfume bottle containing the poison. Kremlin also “attempted assassinations and poisoning of” Russian President Vladimir Putin’s political enemies like the opposition leader, Alexei Navalny, who has been sentenced to jail. 

“Kremlin’s disinformation and propaganda ecosystem quickly went into action to protect Russia’s interests after international outrage to the assassination operation conducted on NATO soil," US State Department said.

Russia continued to lie about its involvement in these poisoning incidences, inventing false narratives about who was responsible and seeking to lay the groundwork for future disinformation campaigns about chemical weapons, said US State Department. Russia blamed the UK, the United States, and Ukraine, exiled Russian oligarchs, Bill Browder, Yulia Skripal’s future mother-in-law—for the poisoning done with military-grade 'Novichok.' It also spread propaganda after the downing of Malaysian Airlines Flight 17, flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur. It was shot down on 17 July 2014 while flying over eastern Ukraine.

A total of 283 passengers, including 80 children, and 15 crew members were on board, and no survivors were found. A 15-month investigation by the Dutch Safety Board (DSB) found in October 2015 that the commercial aircraft was struck by a Russian-made Buk missile from Russia backed separatist region in conflict-ridden Ukraine.

While Moscow denied its role, the Dutch-led joint investigation team (JIT) concluded in May 2018 that the missile system belonged to a Russian brigade. Igor Girkin (also known as Strelkov), a former colonel in Russia's FSB intelligence service, Sergei Dubinsky (known as Khmury), who was employed by Russia's GRU military intelligence agency, Oleg Pulatov, known as Giurza, a former soldier of GRU special forces were among the suspects for trial under Dutch law at a court hearing. 

 Judges and lawyers view the reconstructed wreckage of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17, at the Gilze-Rijen military Airbase, southern Netherlands. Photo Credit: AP

In the UNSC, Russia’s representative questioned the OPCW technical assistance team report, which “confirm[ed] the findings of the United Kingdom relating to the identity of the toxic chemical that was used in Salisbury.” Russia’s MFA spokesperson Maria Zakharova accused the British intelligence services of conducting a false flag operation to frame the Russian Federation for the poisoning. 

Russian police carrying struggling opposition leader Alexei Navalny, center, at a demonstration against President Vladimir Putin in Pushkin Square. Credit: AP

Kremlin labels President Joe Biden's Democratic Party ‘main ideologues’ of military-biological labs in Ukraine

Russian Defence Ministry on Wednesday categorically held accountable leaders of the US President Joe Biden's Democratic Party, whom it labelled the "main ideologues" of US military-biological activities in Ukraine. Points raised by Russia's MoD in a Telegram post against the US were:

◽️ Funds for military biomedical research were raised by US Democratic Party under state guarantees from NGOs controlled by the Democratic Party leadership, including the investment funds of the Clintons, Rockefellers, Soros and Biden.

◽️ The scheme involves major pharmaceutical companies, including Pfizer, Moderna, Merck and the US military-affiliated company Gilead. 

◽️ US experts have been involved in working to test new medicines that circumvent international safety standards inside the biolabs that they set up in Ukraine.

◽️ The involvement of controlled nongovernmental and biotechnological organisations, and the increase in their revenues, allowed the leaders of the US Democratic Party to generate additional campaign finance and hide its distribution.

Moscow said that as a result of its 'special military operation' on the territory of Ukraine, facts of work with the specified pathogens, which are potential agents of biological weapons, have been discovered by its military forces. At the same time, it was noted that Ukraine had sent a request to the manufacturing company regarding the possibility of equipping the Bayraktar drones with aerosol equipment, Russian MoD said. 

Documents obtained also show the involvement of Poland in Ukrainian bio laboratories, stated the Russian ministry of defense. Polish Institute of Veterinary Medicine in research was involved in assessing the epidemiological threats and spread of the rabies virus in Ukraine, it said. US and Ukraine intentionally used multidrug-resistant tuberculosis pathogen in 2020 to infect the pro-Russian population of the Slavyanoserbsky district of the LPR.

Counterfeit currency notes were infected with the tuberculosis agent and distributed to minors in Stepovoe village, said Russia's MoD. Potentially dangerous biological drugs were tested by the US on patients of the Kharkov Regional Clinical Psychiatric Hospital No 3.