{"id":90358,"date":"2022-07-07T13:53:47","date_gmt":"2022-07-07T09:53:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mythdetector.ge\/?p=90358"},"modified":"2022-07-08T17:51:58","modified_gmt":"2022-07-08T13:51:58","slug":"pro-kremlin-actors-presented-as-georgian-scientists-ask-kremlin-to-examine-the-lugar-lab","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mythdetector.ge\/en\/pro-kremlin-actors-presented-as-georgian-scientists-ask-kremlin-to-examine-the-lugar-lab\/","title":{"rendered":"Pro-Kremlin Actors Presented as Georgian Scientists Ask Kremlin to Examine the Lugar Lab"},"content":{"rendered":"

On July 4, Russian Channel One\u2019 aired a story (<\/span>1<\/span><\/a>,<\/span>2<\/span><\/a>,<\/span>3<\/span><\/a>,) about the alleged demands for an investigation into the activities of the American laboratories in the territory of Georgia, in particular, the Richard Lugar Laboratory of Tbilisi. The story talks about various “dangerous experiments” being conducted in the Lugar laboratory and in the “American laboratories” on the territories of other states of the post-Soviet space, including Ukraine. Georgian-speaking users of Facebook have also <\/span>disseminated <\/span><\/a>the story of Channel One.<\/span><\/p>\n

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The claims voiced by the Russian \u2018Channel One\u2019 about the existence of Western-controlled biological laboratories in Georgia and Ukraine are disinformation. The narrative about “dangerous experiments\u201d taking place in such \u201cbiolaboratories” is part of the Kremlin’s propaganda, used to discredit the relationship between the USA and its partners, including Georgia and Ukraine.<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

Disinformation <\/b>\u21161: Confirmed cases of tropical fever in Georgia were not “imported from abroad” and the center of infection existed in Georgia. In Lugar, there is a “factory” for breeding mosquitoes that spread dangerous diseases.<\/b><\/span><\/h4>\n

In fact, instead of breeding insects that later spread various dangerous diseases, the Lugar Center monitors the species of mosquitoes that spread dangerous viruses in order to maintain a normal epidemiological situation. Among the insects that spread dengue fever (tropic fever) are two species of mosquitoes: Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus. Both of them <\/span>can be found<\/span><\/a> in Georgia. Since 2014, in order to prevent the worsening of the epidemic situation in the country and to protect public health, these species of mosquitoes have been monitored by the Lugar Laboratory.<\/span><\/p>\n

After voicing the claims by the Russian media, “Myth Detector” contacted Paata Imnadze, Deputy Director-General of the National Center for Disease Control and Public Health. According to Imnadze, the accusations of the Russian media are absurd, while the activities of the laboratory are transparent.<\/span><\/p>\n

In November 2018, an international visit under the auspices of the UN Convention on the Prohibition of Biological and Toxic Weapons <\/span>took place<\/span><\/a> in Georgia to ensure the transparency of the activities of the Lugar Center. Biosafety experts from 20 countries visited the Lugar Lab. Despite the invitation from Georgia, Russia refused to participate in the visit. After the visit, international experts prepared a report, which was presented at the meeting of member states of the Convention on Biological Weapons at the Geneva office of the United Nations. The report noted that<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe facility demonstrated significant transparency about its activities. The visiting team observed nothing that was inconsistent with prophylactic, protective and other peaceful purposes\u2026All the equipment and infrastructure observed was relevant to the prophylactic, protective and other peaceful research and diagnostic purposes stated by the visited facility.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The Lugar laboratory has been visited by journalists a number of times. According to Paata Imnadze, in 2018, along with other journalists, Rima Berulava, the author of the story on Russian Channel One, also visited the center.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Journalist Rima Berulava during her visit to the Lugar laboratory, 2018<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Disinformation <\/b>\u2116<\/b>2: A particularly virulent strain of African swine fever, later found in Russia and Europe, was developed at the Lugar Lab.<\/b><\/span><\/h4>\n

Linking the African <\/span>swine fever<\/span><\/a> to Lugar Lab is a Kremlin conspiracy. <\/span>The African swine fever epidemic started in 2007, while the Lugar laboratory in Georgia was opened in 2011. <\/b>Presumably, in 2007, African swine fever entered Georgia from East Africa through contaminated pork products. After the disease spread to Europe in 2007, a second large-scale outbreak began in China in 2018.<\/span><\/p>\n

Notably, in 2021, the KGB of so-called South Ossetia claimed that the African swine fever was spread from Georgia to the territory of the Tskhinvali region and linked the virus to the Lugar laboratory.<\/span><\/p>\n