# New conspiracy: U.S. was funding Ukrainian "biolabs" **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Tags:** ukraine-invasion\ **Created:** [March 10, 2022, 11:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-conspiracy-u-s-was-funding-ukrainian-biolabs/960819 "2022-03-10T11:19:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2022, 11:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-conspiracy-u-s-was-funding-ukrainian-biolabs/960819/1 "2022-03-10T11:19:34Z")
My rightwing/Trumpster/conspiracy-minded acquaintance on FB just posted [this pile of shit](https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2022/03/breaking-us-department-defense-funding-ukrainian-biolabs-russia-releases-list-biological-agents-tested-us-biolabs-ukraine-including-salmonella-e-coli-anthrax-plague/). Cutting to the chase: the invasion by Russia is justified, because the U.S. is funding labs in the Ukraine that are engaged in biological warfare. 🙄 I am assuming he found this story on Alex Jones’ website. (On edit: [yep](https://www.infowars.com/posts/us-funded-bio-labs-in-ukraine-conducted-research-into-bat-coronavirus-russian-mod-says/).) ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2022, 11:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-conspiracy-u-s-was-funding-ukrainian-biolabs/960819/2 "2022-03-10T11:26:08Z")
From Russia’s mouth, to QAnon’s ears, to Hannity’s microphone. > **[QAnon and Putin are pushing the same new conspiracy theory about Ukraine: report](https://www.rawstory.com/qanon-russia-disinformation-ukraine/)** > > The same misinformation being spread in America by the QAnon conspiracy theory and Vladimir Putin's Russia, CNN reported Wednesday. "A new conspiracy theory has become popular among some of the online communities that formed around QAnon – one... [https://www.cnn.com/2022/03/09/media/biolab-ukraine-russia-qanon-false-conspiracy-theory/index.html](https://www.cnn.com/2022/03/09/media/biolab-ukraine-russia-qanon-false-conspiracy-theory/index.html) > [@](#): > > There are US-funded biolabs in Ukraine, that much is true. But they are not building bioweapons. Actually, it’s the opposite: Part of the reason for their creation was to secure old Soviet weapons left behind in the former Soviet republics. The State Department has described the claims as nonsense – and the US and Ukrainian governments [have](https://ua.usembassy.gov/u-s-ukraine-partnership-to-reduce-biological-threats/) [repeatedly,](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GAhbNgBD4Vg) and for years now, tried to bat down conspiracy theories about the labs and spoken about the work that is actually being done in them. > > Russia’s falsehoods about labs like this have not been limited to Ukraine. Similar claims were made about a lab in Tbilisi, Georgia; those were proven false. [Dr. Filippa Lentzos](https://thebulletin.org/2018/11/the-russian-disinformation-attack-that-poses-a-biological-danger/amp/), co-director of the Centre for Science & Security Studies at King’s College London, visited the lab along with other experts and debunked the Russian claims. She told CNN the Russians are spreading the same lies about labs in Ukraine. > > There is a disinformation machine at work here. > > It goes a bit like this. The Russian government makes suggestive statements, leaving breadcrumbs that are dutifully repeated by official Russian state media – and then, increasingly importantly, by dozens of faceless websites (some of which the [US has alleged](https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/jy0126) are tied to Russian intelligence). Social media accounts push the idea further, build on it, make it more fantastical – and those more fantastical claims eventually end up getting picked up by official Russian media and the cycle begins again. One of my MAGA co-workers was spouting the same thing at work this evening when I walked in on a conversation he was having with a sensible coworker of mine. The latter subsequently thanked me for giving him an excuse to walk away. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2022, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-conspiracy-u-s-was-funding-ukrainian-biolabs/960819/3 "2022-03-10T12:15:18Z")
Needs more “Soros” in it. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2022, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-conspiracy-u-s-was-funding-ukrainian-biolabs/960819/4 "2022-03-10T12:27:03Z")
Is this what they found in Hillary’s missing emails? No wonder they had to overthrow the 2020 election. _It’s all connected!_ Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Folacin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folacin/32/3195_2.png) [@Folacin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folacin)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2022, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-conspiracy-u-s-was-funding-ukrainian-biolabs/960819/5 "2022-03-10T12:32:23Z")
Yeah, this is popping up in the RW corners of the other site I spend time on. I do give props to the ~50% of the conservatives on those sub-forums who are pushing back. I mean, is there any way Putin wouldn’t have announced the existence of those labs as a _causus belli_ long before this? ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2022, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-conspiracy-u-s-was-funding-ukrainian-biolabs/960819/6 "2022-03-10T12:40:20Z")
> [@Folacin](#): > > I mean, is there any way Putin wouldn’t have announced the existence of those labs as a _causus belli_ long before this? “It’s just like Trump down-playing COVID! He “didn’t want to create a panic”! That’s what a leader does!” ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2022, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-conspiracy-u-s-was-funding-ukrainian-biolabs/960819/7 "2022-03-10T13:02:28Z")
The U.S. appears to have the greatest number of BSL-4 “biolabs” of any country, followed by the UK. None in Ukraine AFAIK. ---
**Author:** ![Folacin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folacin/32/3195_2.png) [@Folacin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folacin)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2022, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-conspiracy-u-s-was-funding-ukrainian-biolabs/960819/8 "2022-03-10T13:45:38Z")
> [@DPRK](#): > > None in Ukraine AFAIK. Well, the super secret ones designed to attack Mother Russia wouldn’t be widely known, would they? ---
**Author:** ![Ann\_Hedonia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ann_hedonia/32/319_2.png) [@Ann\_Hedonia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ann_Hedonia)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2022, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-conspiracy-u-s-was-funding-ukrainian-biolabs/960819/9 "2022-03-10T13:57:07Z")
Seriously. Anyone that doubts the pervasive Russian influence of right-wing conspiracy theories should ask themselves why, out of all the wealthy people in the United States that give large amounts of money to liberal causes, has George Soros been singled out as the liberal boogeyman? Could it be because his primary liberal cause is the Westernization of Ukraine and other former Soviet countries? It makes sense to hate him if you’re Putin, but not if you’re some MAGA redneck. I bet if you’re ask that redneck why George Soros is bad, you won’t get any detail beyond some rant about radical socialists. But Putin knows why he hates Soros, it was his idea. ---
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2022, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-conspiracy-u-s-was-funding-ukrainian-biolabs/960819/10 "2022-03-10T14:00:37Z")
Also, “Soros” sounds like a Bond villain last name. If his name was George Humdinger it wouldn’t work as well. ---
**Author:** ![Ann\_Hedonia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ann_hedonia/32/319_2.png) [@Ann\_Hedonia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ann_Hedonia)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2022, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-conspiracy-u-s-was-funding-ukrainian-biolabs/960819/11 "2022-03-10T14:00:47Z")
> [@Folacin](#): > > Yeah, this is popping up in the RW corners of the other site I spend time on. > > I do give props to the ~50% of the conservatives on those sub-forums who are pushing back. > > I mean, is there any way Putin wouldn’t have announced the existence of those labs as a _causus belli_ long before this? I checked out r/conspiracy last week and a lot of the regulars are pushing back against the latest batch of Ukrainian conspiracy theories, they’re like _we just want to stick with alerting the world to the epidemic of lizard people, but you guys are making us look crazy, go away._……. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2022, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-conspiracy-u-s-was-funding-ukrainian-biolabs/960819/12 "2022-03-10T14:48:00Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > Is this what they found in Hillary’s missing emails? No wonder they had to overthrow the 2020 election. Hunter’s laptop. > [@Ann\_Hedonia](#): > > I bet if you’re ask that redneck why George Soros is bad, you won’t get any detail beyond some rant about radical socialists. And that’s something I’ve found WRT most of these things. Just keep asking “why” and see how far they can get. More often then not you’ll get the person worked up and pissed off at _you_ before they can give you a single specific about what they’re angry about. In your case, keep asking what their problem is with, specifically, Soros. Not “the libs”, not the radical loopy left ([who hate this president and his thick mack daddy energy](https://youtu.be/FJdDn006ldI?t=146)), not biden…Soros (or whatever/whomever they’re talking about). I’m willing to bet you’ll never get anything specific and even if you do it’ll be a Fox/OAN talking point that they’re regurgitating without ever giving any thought to it and don’t even fully understand what they’re saying. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2022, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-conspiracy-u-s-was-funding-ukrainian-biolabs/960819/13 "2022-03-10T14:53:16Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > I’m willing to bet you’ll never get anything specific and even if you do it’ll be a Fox/OAN talking point that they’re regurgitating without ever giving any thought to it and don’t even fully understand what they’re saying. Yes. “They gave me someone to blame, stop challenging my beliefs with facts.” ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2022, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-conspiracy-u-s-was-funding-ukrainian-biolabs/960819/14 "2022-03-10T15:21:02Z")
> [@Ann\_Hedonia](#): > > I checked out r/conspiracy last week and a lot of the regulars are pushing back against the latest batch of Ukrainian conspiracy theories, they’re like _we just want to stick with alerting the world to the epidemic of lizard people, but you guys are making us look crazy, go away._ ……. It’s always amusing when a Conspiracy Theorist runs into someone crazier than they are. They can realize that the other person is completely nuts, but they never stop to realize, that’s how they look to everyone else. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2022, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-conspiracy-u-s-was-funding-ukrainian-biolabs/960819/15 "2022-03-10T15:27:34Z")
Sure enough, the biolab conspiracy theory has popped up on my go-to source for crazy, Natural News, which previously declared that the fuss over the Russian invasion of Ukraine was designed to distract us from the millions (billions?) of people dropping dead of Covid vaccination. I get the feeling that if the lizard people staged a world takeover and Biden and the mainstream media raised the alarm, the conspiracist loons would be out there defending their new Reptilian Overlords. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2022, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-conspiracy-u-s-was-funding-ukrainian-biolabs/960819/16 "2022-03-10T16:26:54Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > Hunter’s laptop. I still have issues about the actual idea that someone would wander off abandoning a laptop at a repair shop - while I actually do have 2 laptops and a desk top [one at each house, and the desktop is hooked up to the television so I don’t have to dick around with cable] I do actually know where every previously owned and now dead laptop ended up. Especially if there is compromising material on it. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2022, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-conspiracy-u-s-was-funding-ukrainian-biolabs/960819/17 "2022-03-10T16:43:59Z")
> [@aruvqan](#): > > I still have issues about the actual idea that someone would wander off abandoning a laptop at a repair shop Supposedly the laptop was dropped off in April 2019. Sometime in early 2019, his family held an intervention to try to help him with his substance abuse problems. Is it possible that his abuse of drugs and alcohol could have led to behavior a rational person wouldn’t have done? (Just some speculation on a way to explain this, if it is true.) Here is a NYT article about the laptop issue (I’m not sure if there is more info out since then): > **[What We Know and Don’t About Hunter Biden and a Laptop (Published 2020)](https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/22/us/politics/hunter-biden-laptop.html)** > > President Trump’s allies have promoted claims of corruption aimed at the former vice president’s son in an effort to damage the Biden campaign. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2022, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-conspiracy-u-s-was-funding-ukrainian-biolabs/960819/18 "2022-03-10T16:49:33Z")
> [@Love\_Rhombus](#): > > Also, “Soros” sounds like a Bond villain last name. If his name was George Humdinger it wouldn’t work as well. But if his name was Dr Christmas Goodhead-Hummer, would that work? ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2022, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-conspiracy-u-s-was-funding-ukrainian-biolabs/960819/19 "2022-03-10T16:51:08Z")
That name sounds like a Bond girl instead of villain. ---
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2022, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-conspiracy-u-s-was-funding-ukrainian-biolabs/960819/20 "2022-03-10T16:53:44Z")
What a twist! [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-conspiracy-u-s-was-funding-ukrainian-biolabs/960819.md?page=2)