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FACT CHECK
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Fact check: False claim of US biolabs in Ukraine tied to Russian disinformation campaign

Ella Lee
USA TODAY

The claim: There are biolabs in Ukraine funded by the US government

In the early hours Thursday, Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a full-scale military assault on Ukraine, inciting a wave of international backlash and sanctions against Russia.

"Putin is the aggressor. Putin chose this war. And now he and his country will bear the consequences," President Joe Biden said.

Some on social media claimed the United States may have more at stake than it lets on.

A post shared to Facebook on Thursday shows a map of Ukraine pinpointing what the poster asserts are "exclusive U.S. biolabs in Ukraine" that are funded by the U.S. Department of Defense. 

"By now I think most everybody knows about Ukraine/WW3," reads the post, which amassed more than 400 interactions in a day. "So what do we know about this??"

Similar posts claimed Russia destroyed seven of the 11 supposed labs in missile strikes. The claims are wrong, independent fact-checking outlets reported.

The posts misrepresent a treaty between the United States and Ukraine aimed at preventing biological threats. The labs are owned and funded by the Ukrainian government, according to the Security Service of Ukraine, the country's main security agency.

That agency and the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine have said the claim of U.S. labs is false. Numerous reports indicate it is tied to a years-long Russian disinformation campaign aimed at discrediting the United States.

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USA TODAY was unable to reach the Facebook users who shared the claim for comment.

A man photographs smoldering Russian military vehicles destroyed on the outskirts of Kharkiv, Ukraine, on Feb. 25.

Labs run by Ukrainian government

The Ukrainian and U.S. governments partnered in August 2005 to "prevent the proliferation of dangerous pathogens and related expertise and to minimize potential biological threats," according to the treaty.

Interfax-Ukraine reported in May 2020 that part of the agreement was aimed at "modernizing" state laboratories in the Odesa, Kharkiv, Lviv, Kyiv, Vinnytsia, Kherson and Dnipropetrovsk regions. Those efforts included making repairs, updating equipment and purchasing supplies.

The Security Service of Ukraine said the laboratories, "financed from the state budget, are subordinate to the Ministry of Health and the state service on food safety and consumer protection," according to Interfax-Ukraine.

Fact check:TikTok video posted in 2015 doesn't show Russian soldiers parachuting into Ukraine

The U.S. Embassy in Ukraine sought to "set the record straight" on the biolabs claim in a statement in April 2020, calling the theories "disinformation spreading in some circles in Ukraine that mirrors Russian disinformation regarding the strong U.S.-Ukrainian partnership to reduce biological threats."

Coda, a nonprofit media company, reported in 2018 that the claim is part of a broader disinformation campaign by the Kremlin to discredit the United States in the eyes of Russia's pro-Western neighbors, Ukraine and Georgia. 

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, Russia teamed up with China to further amplify the false claim of U.S. labs in Ukraine. The goal was  to call into question whether the coronavirus originated in one of the supposed "U.S.-controlled" labs, according to a report in April 2021 from the Daily Beast.

Ukraine is fighting an invasion by Russia.

The Security Service of Ukraine said the claim is false in a Facebook post in May 2020, according to Interfax-Ukraine.

“Recently, ‘fake news’ about the alleged activities of American military biological laboratories in Ukraine has been spread in the media and social networks," the agency said. "No foreign biological laboratories operate in Ukraine. Statements recently made by individual politicians are not true and are a deliberate distortion of the facts.”

USA TODAY was unable to reach the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine or the Department of Defense for comment.

Our rating: False

Based on our research, we rate FALSE the claim that there are U.S. biolabs in Ukraine funded by the U.S. government. The posts misrepresent a treaty between the United States and Ukraine aimed at preventing biological threats.

The labs are owned and funded by the Ukrainian government.The Security Service of Ukraine and the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine have said the claim is false. Reports indicate the claim is tied to a years-long Russian disinformation campaign aimed at discrediting the United States.

Our fact-check sources:

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Our fact-check work is supported in part by a grant from Facebook.

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