Russian propagandists asserted in March 2022 that the U.S. was funding bioweapons laboratories in Ukraine as a justification for their armed forces' brutal invasion of that country. "During a special military operation, the facts of the Kiev regime's emergency cleanup of traces of a military biological program funded by the US Department of Defence implemented in Ukraine were revealed," asserted a Russian spokesperson on March 6, 2022. A Chinese spokesman joined in, declaring "This Russian military operation has uncovered the secret of the U.S. labs in Ukraine, and this is not something that can be dealt with in a perfunctory manner." Ironically, this outrageous allegation comes from a regime that refused to allow independent researchers to investigate the origins of the COVID-19 virus in Wuhan, China.
That authoritarian regimes lie is not surprising. However, this Russian propaganda was also parroted by prominent American right-wing figures in the United States, including former Fox News commentator Tucker Carlson and podcaster Steve Bannon.
