Deputy ambassador to the UN for Russia, Dimitry Polyanskiy, called for a meeting with the UN Security Council on supposed charges of "new evidence on military biological programs" supposedly being "carried out at the U.S. bio labs in Ukraine. According to Polyanskiy's Telegram group, said the meeting is set for Friday, May 13, at 10:00 A.M. EST.
Russia has been fielding said concerns since March of this year, utilizing potential reports on US internal biological laboratories being run at the borders of Ukraine as justification for their invasion of the country. Several previous meetings and reports have disapproved of the allegations, calling them outright disinformation campaigns, but Russia is clearly quite adamant about its findings.
For Friday, the UN Security Council's calendar appears to show not just one but two separate meetings planned, specifically on the notion of "committee informal consultations." The second meeting is scheduled for the afternoon. Polyanskiy did not clarify what exactly said "new evidence" may look like, but consistent internal investigations have already proven most of Russia's claims as "outright lies," according to the State Department's Ned Price.
Russia demanded an open meeting of the UN Security Council to present new evidence on military biological programs carried out at the US biolabs in #Ukraine. The meeting is scheduled for 10 am NY time tomorrow, 13 May
— Dmitry Polyanskiy 🇺🇳 (@Dpol_un) May 12, 2022
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In a statement headed by Price on Mar. 9, the spokesperson went on to say:
"The United States does not own or operate any chemical or biological laboratories in Ukraine, it is in full compliance with its obligations under the Chemical Weapons Convention and Biological Weapons Convention, and it does not develop or possess such weapons anywhere. It is Russia that has active chemical and biological weapons programs and is in violation of the Chemical Weapons Convention and Biological Weapons Convention."
While any US involvement seems doubtful, Ukraine does have labs scattered across its borders for the purposes of research into various needs, most prominent among them being deadly diseases, crop pathogens, and more. In a Wired article published in late March, deputy vice president for global biological policy within the NTI think tank, Hayley Severance, highlights the realities surrounding these real labs in Ukraine as being totally opposite to what Russia is painting of them:
"These labs are being misrepresented. There is no nefarious biological weapon development activity, ongoing in Ukraine, supported by the US. That is a false narrative that has been part of the Russian playbook for decades."
The concerns about Russia's claims are two-fold in that they can then wash their hands of their attacks on Ukraine while also potentially running their own tests on bioweapons in the background. It paints an ugly picture of what to expect near-term as the invasion of Ukraine intensifies.
