Does the Biological Weapon Targeting Specific Ethnic Groups Exist and What Does the Kremlin Claim?

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Georgia and the World published a newspaper version of Valeri Kvaratskhelia’s TV program “ოქროს კვეთა” (Golden Cut) on August 4 in which the author, citing Russian politicians, media outlets, and scientists, claims that the United States is collecting biological materials of specific ethnic groups and there is a reasonable doubt that the processed biological material will be used to create a biological weapon that would annihilate these ethnic groups “fast and cheaply”. A pro-Kremlin media outlet News Front published a similar article on its website on August 4 which was titled “American Biological Program Using the Genetics of Specific Ethnic Groups, Including Caucasians”. The author of the article and the Head of the Eurasian Institute, Gulbaat Rtskhiladze, broadly describes the steps taken by the U.S. for creating the biological weapon against various ethnic groups, including Chinese, and assumes that the Lugar Laboratory in Tbilisi is a part of this process, based on reports by a Russian general.

Valeri Ilyinsky, Russian geneticist: “Two centers operate in Russia in this direction – one in Moscow and another in Saint-Petersburg. They collect biomaterials that are sent to the U.S. later. They then conduct examinations to study genetic features of various ethnic groups in Russia. This includes studies of diseases that are widespread among these groups.”

Vladimir Putin, the President of Russia: “They are collecting biological materials of various ethnic groups that live in different geographic locations in Russia. Question is – why are they doing it so professionally and deliberately?”

Channel One Russia: “It should not be excluded that this (collection of biological materials in different countries) might be connected to the creation of such a biological weapon that would target specific ethnic groups. They would then introduce some virus that would infect only ethnically Russians, but no one else.”

Gulbaat Rtskhiladze, August 4: “… working contrary to this call are American military biological laboratories, i.e. the facilities of the same type as the so-called ‘Lugar Lab’. Americans are actively collecting genetic material of various ethnic groups. They have attempted it in Russia too…”

There is no evidence of the existence or creation of an ethnic weapon. Valeri Kvaratskhelia’s and Gulbaat Rtskhiladze’s opinions are based on a widespread conspiracy theory. Such news periodically emerges both in Russian and pro-Russian Georgian editions where the main part is usually devoted to unfounded accusations towards the Lugar Lab.

  • Origins of the conspiracy theory about the creation of an ethnicity-based biological weapon.

Conspiracy theories about the biological weapon targeting specific ethnic groups have been circulating for years. This accusation is especially often made by the Russian government and media towards the U.S. In 2007, Kommersant newspaper published news about the Government of Russia prohibiting the export of human biological material from the country, citing the alleged intention of the West to create a biological weapon against Russia as a reason.

On October 30, 2017, the President of Russia, Vladimir Putin, stated that biological material of various ethnic groups was being collected by foreigners on the territory of Russia, and that this was being coordinated on a high level, but for unspecified reasons. Next day, Kremlin speaker, Dmitry Peskov, ascribed this act to foreign embassies and non-governmental organizations. Other high-ranking Russian government officials engaged in justifying the conspiracy theory as well. One of them, the Head of the Education and Science Committee of the State Duma, Gennadiy Onishchenko, stated that the biological material was a part of the U.S. military program and underlined the existence of U.S.-founded laboratories in Russia’s neighbor countries.

Before Putin’s October 2017 statement was the “discovery” made by Russia Today in July of the same year, which held that U.S. Air Force was collecting ribonucleic acid (RNA) and synovial fluid from Russians for unspecified reasons. In fact, according to Bo Downey, U.S. Air Force speaker, a two-stage musculoskeletal system research was being carried out and in the first case, the research material was purchased from a U.S. company. Turns out, the material contained samples taken in Russia and for the accuracy of the research it was necessary to collect the rest of the material from the same territory.

  • Does an ethnicity-based biological weapon exist?

Biological weapon targeting specific ethnic groups belongs to sci-fi genre and represents a significant role in Robert Heinlein’s literary works. As of today, there is no officially confirmed report of any state possessing such weapon. All scientific articles and studies around this issue are theoretical and are only based on predictions and assumptions.

As several scientists explain, creating an ethnic bioweapon would be impossible from a technical point of view as well. Theoretically, it should target a group of people who would have genetic features that others would not have. Collecting such material would be impossible, as on the territory of modern-day Russia, for example, there are basically no specific genetic markers in any specific geographic area due to a mixed genetic history. In practice, creating such weapon would only be possible if it would target a group of people that has lived in isolation for centuries. Otherwise, the virus, created for this purpose, may kill 20% of the target group, while killing 28% of other population.

  • Lugar Lab and accusations related to the biological weapon

Russia has been disseminating unfounded accusations towards the Lugar Lab for years. In parallel with the statements, the Kremlin was using arguments of different form, but of similar content, to “prove” that the accusations were accurate. One of such arguments was an “investigation” by a Bulgarian journalist, Dilyana Gaytandzhieva, based on which she claimed that a secret military program and an illegal human pathogen trade was being carried out in Georgia under the supervision of the U.S. In fact, the author was using illusionary evidences – an exchange of research materials between countries is a normal event.

By using simulated evidences and ad nauseam technique (tireless repetition of an idea), Russian and pro-Russian Georgian media outlets try to disseminate false information about the Lugar Lab. In its May 27 statement in response to May 26 Russian Government’s accusations towards the Lugar Lab, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Georgia ruled out the possibility of violating the Biological Weapons Convention. The statement mentioned that the Lugar Lab is a sub-division of the National Center for Disease Control and Public Health and is subordinate to the institutions of the Georgian healthcare system and that Georgian authorities coordinate all studies and activities there. The main goal of the Center is to protect public health and prevent a biological catastrophe, while its main profile is to identify, diagnose, and prevent infectious diseases and epidemics.

  •  Ethnic weapon’s new life under the novel coronavirus

Another part of the conspiracy theories, originating in Russia, is that the U.S. is preparing an ethnic weapon against China and that it uses various methods to that end, with information disseminated by Russian media outlets about COVID-19 being a perfect illustration.

Even before the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic “Zvezda”, the channel of the Ministry of Defense of Russia, published an article titled “Coronavirus: American Biological Weapon Targeting Russia and China”. The article touched upon the laboratories established by the U.S. in countries of the former Soviet Union and the creation of such ethnic weapon was ascribed exactly to them. In line with the tradition, Russian high-ranking officials agreed with this theory about the coronavirus, with Vladimir Zhirinovsky and a military expert Viktor Baranets being the most notorious examples.

The scale and nature of disseminating the information about assuming that the coronavirus is a biological weapon targeting China and Russia is considered to be a traditional approach of the Russian propaganda. Foreign Policy wrote that accusing the U.S. of creating the coronavirus resembles “Operation INFEKTION” that originated from small and large media outlets and ended up shaping the public opinion in the end. This planned disinformation campaign envisaged establishing the opinion that HIV/AIDS were spread by the U.S.

Country: USA
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Kvaratskhelia Valeri

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