Russia finds another stage for the Ukraine “biolabs” disinformation show

For the first time since the Cuban government accused the United States of spraying its country with a crop-eating bug called Thrips palmi in 1997, a Biological Weapons Convention member is invoking a special procedure to investigate alleged violations of the treaty. Once again, a country is accusing the US of nefarious activity. But this time it is Russia—building on its years-long campaign involving largely debunked claims about a US bioweapons program in Ukraine and other former Soviet republics—that is calling for the rarely used diplomatic procedure.

The move to trigger Article V of the bioweapons treaty represents a significant escalation of Russia’s efforts to promote claims of illegal US “biolabs” ringing its borders. Now the treaty’s 184 member states will have to hold a special session this summer to hear the Russian allegations and the US response.