Thread by @Justin_Ling

Yesterday I wrote on a fast-moving conspiracy theory that seeks to rationalize Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and marry it with a tangle of QAnon paranoia. foreignpolicy.com/2022/03/02/ukr…

Let's look at how this theory came to be — and how it's still being promoted by Moscow.

As early as April 2020, the Putin regime was advancing the idea that American biological research abroad posed some kind of risk to Russia.

Maria Zakharova, press secretary for the Russian foreign minister, said Moscow was paying particular attention to American labs "abroad."

Pro-Kremlin disinformation channels, like StalkerZone (linked to Oleg Tsaryov, a separatist leader in Donetsk) had been amplifying this narrative before the comments, and much moreso afterwards.

Over the next year, Moscow and Beijing made common cause — trying to deflect allegations, both fair and fantastical, that China had a role to play in downplaying, perhaps even causing, the pandemic. To do that, they brought out this "biolabs" canard.

scmp.com/news/china/dip…

Ahead of the invasion, Bulgarian writer Dilyana Gaytandzhieva (who previously peddled Russia's line that Sergei Skripal was not, in fact, poisoned) pushed stories alleging America was doing biological experiments on soldiers in the area.

For her work, Gaytandzhieva was given an award by an organization seemingly run by pro-Russian Latvian MP Ruslan Pankratov. (Its website was registered in late 2021, and is hosted in Russia.)

Just so we're all on the same page: Yes, the U.S. funds laboratories abroad that handle infectious disease — Ukraine, China, Kazakhstan, etc. This is *really* important. America doesn't create bioweapons abroad (why would it?) it helps other nations prevent global pandemics.

You may be wondering: What *is* a "biolab"?

I guess it just sounds more sinister than "biological laboratory." But it's just...a lab. Like those that are found in virtually every university in the world.

So the groundwork for this has been properly laid for two years. Then comes Russia's unprovoked invasion of Ukraine. A Twitter account from a longtime QAnon follower has a HOLY SHIT moment and ties the twine together. (Apologies to @DAlperovitch for this cameo.)

And, to be clear, the Anon who fires off this theory basically overlays every laboratory that received U.S. funding (which are, surprise, in cities) with Russian airstrikes (which are, surprise, in cities) and then grabs this baseless Russian claim to validate his theory.

As a theory goes, this is fairly bog standard QAnon stuff. Take two unrelated data points, put them next to each other, proclaim "there's no such thing as coincidences!" and write some fanfic that ties back to the central lunacy.

It certainly wins over some fellow travellers.

Til now, it's just QAnon repurposing some B-rate Russian propaganda.

Feb27: Russian embassy in Sarajevo comes out and accuses Washington of "filling Ukraine with biolabs, which were–very possibly–used to study methods for destroying the Russian people." ba.n1info.com/english/news/r…

Wondering if this was just one embassy freelancing, I reached out to a number of Russian missions abroad — and heard nothing back. Then an official Sputnik channel on Telegram decides to get in the game, posting (genuinely uninteresting) documents about U.S. labs in Ukraine.

This stuff is just popping up everywhere. The original BioClandestine account gets suspended a few times, but apparently Twitter has given up. (Incredibly, even Gettr has suspended him.)

As this blows up, the guy behind the theory goes on QAnon podcast RedPill78. (He logs on as Jacob.)

The guy in the white t-shirt is J.R. Majewski, an Ohio GOP primary candidate. (He's raised some $200k.) He claimed to be coming back from lunch with Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago.

So, just to recap: Russia seeded this conspiracy theory. QAnon took hold, and ran with it. Russia actively fed into it.

I don't think the QAnon crowd is cooperating with Russia in any way. I think they're useful idiots.

Which brings us to to today:

This is Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov directly repeating this conspiracy theory, claiming (per translation) America "built two biological war labs, and they have been developing pathogens there, in Kyiv and in Odessa."

The propaganda effort is now in full swing.

"UKR Leaks" — run by Vasily Prozorov, who claims to have been a contractor for the Ukrainian security services before he defected in 2019 — claims a U.S. biolab in Kherson has been "liberated."

More worryingly, the missive claims that other labs must be captured as soon as possible to "prevent a tragedy." He then lists a series of sites around the country, including a number of health research facilities, that Russia must capture "urgently." (Rough translation.)

Here's Sergey Sudakov, a political scientist and frequent guest on Russian media (including state-run outlets like Sputnik.) He writes that the U.S. was creating a "deadly virus" in a biolab in Kharkiv. Viewed 160,000 times so far today.

😑

All countries study infectious diseases. It's what we do so that we have fewer infectious diseases. They are not bioweapons.

https://twitter.com/ASBMilitary/status/1500499205663645700

Moscow and Beijing: Still trying to make biolabs happen.

https://twitter.com/SputnikInt/status/1501184095384072193?t=ndiaN1blBTze4bLdeWULVg&s=19

These labs — research facilities — exist. Everyone knows they exist. The U.S. government acknowledges they exist.

Admitting they exist does not mean they are bioweapons facilities, as Russia, QAnon, and a thousand angry guys in mentions allege.

https://twitter.com/stillgray/status/1501310103529541636

Being scandalized at the idea pathogens are being studied in a Ukrainian research lab requires you to have absolutely zero understanding of virological or biological research.

e.g: to study Bacillus Anthracis (Anthrax) you only need a BSL-2 lab — the 3rd highest level.

Annnnnd we've got an elected official in the mix — independent Member of Provincial Parliament, and noted anti-vax convoy enthusiast, Randy Hillier comes out with the "what's really going on?" take on the biolabs.

Here's Ron Watkins, a prime suspect as one of the men behind Q who is now running on his QAnon fame for a House seat in Arizona, sharing his own biolabs take.

This conspiracy theory has hit the QAnon big leagues.

In the last day, two new hangers-on to the theory: Streamer and noted rube Tim Pool; and human bioweapon Steve Bannon.

Just to reiterate: The program that these conspiracy theorists are freaking out about is *reducing* the threat of biological agents — often destroying samples or improving biosafety conditions. Here's some of their achievements, as of 2019.

In a long Substack post, Glen Greenwald pumps up the biolabs theory, with zero evidence, as he basically makes the case that the U.S government being involved in biological threat reduction proves that they're also doing offensive work. Why? Because "neocons."

On his show tonight, Tucker Carlson says the Russian conspiracy theory on the Ukrainian biolabs is "totally and completely true" and says the "secret" labs (they're not secret) must be doing dangerous things.

I hate the future.

of all the quotes to pull from my story