The U.N. Security Council met Friday to debate allegations that Ukraine possesses biological weapons. Watch it here.
Below are the texts of the Russian, U.S. and U.K. ambassadors’ statements.
Statement by Russia’s Permanent Representative Vassily Nebenzia at UNSC Briefing on Biological Laboratories in Ukraine
Mme.President,
Colleagues,
COVID-19 pandemic demonstrated how vulnerable humanity is in the face of biological threats. It has exacted a huge toll on us, and it continues to claim people’s lives.
When the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BTWC) entered into force in 1975, there was hope that the world would at least be safe from manmade biological threats, because all states-signatories realized enormous risks of using biological weapons (BW) and abandoned plans to develop it.
Unfortunately, we have grounds to think that those hopes did not come true completely.
We called this meeting because during the Russian special military operation in Ukraine, some shocking facts came to light: the Kiev regime is urgently concealing traces of a military biological program that Kiev implemented with support of the US Department of Defense.
Defense Ministry of Russia got hold of documents confirming that Ukraine developed a network of at least 30 biological laboratories that host extremely dangerous biological experiments, aimed at enhancing the pathogen properties of plague, anthrax, tularemia, cholera, and other lethal diseases with the help of synthetic biology. This work is funded and directly supervised by the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) of the United States, i.a. in the interests of Pentagon’s National Center for Medical Intelligence. The key role in these programs was played by a BSL-3 central reference laboratory at the Mechnikov Scientific-Research Anti-Plague Institute in Odessa, Ukraine. Research centers in other cities also played a role – Kiev, Lvov, Kharkov, Dnipro, Kherson, Ternopol, Uzhgorod, Vinnytsia. Research results were sent to US military biological centers, i.a. to U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infections Diseases, Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, US Naval Medical Research, and US Army Biological Warfare Labs in Fort Detrick that used to be the key hubs of the American biological weapons program.
All the materials are available at the website of Russian Ministry of Defense and are presented at daily briefings. Let me cite the most telling examples.
Russian military learned the details of UP-4 project which was implemented at laboratories in Kiev, Kharkov and Odessa. It studied possibilities of spreading particularly dangerous infections through migratory birds, including highly pathogenic H5N1 influenza (lethal to humans in 50 % of cases) and Newcastle disease. As part of another project, bats were considered as carriers of potential BW agents. Among the priorities identified are the study of bacterial and viral pathogens that can be transmitted from bats to humans: pathogens of plague, leptospirosis, brucellosis, as well as coronaviruses and filoviruses. Project documents clearly indicate that the United States actively financed bioprojects in Ukraine.
Besides, there were experiments to study spreading of dangerous infectious diseases by ectoparasites – fleas and lice. It is clear even to non-experts that such experiments are most reckless, as they give no opportunity to control how the situation is going to evolve. Similar research (using fleas and lice as BW agents) was carried out in the 1940s on the development of biological weapons components by the Japanese infamous unit 731, whose members later fled to the US to escape prosecution for war crimes.
Ukraine has a unique geographical location, where transcontinental migration routes of potential carriers of dangerous diseases intersect. Many of those routes pass through the territories of Russia and Eastern Europe. The research that I mentioned was done in the very midst of Eastern Europe and in close vicinity to the Russian borders. According to the data received, the birds that were ringed and released during biological research from the Kherson nature reserve, were caught in Ivanovo and Voronezh regions of Russia.
The analysis of the obtained materials confirms the transfer of more than 140 containers with ectoparasites of bats from a biolab in Kharkov abroad. We do not know anything about the fate of those dangerous biomaterials and the consequences that may occur once they “dissipate” (possibly in Europe) in the absence of any international control. In any case, risks are high that they may be stolen for terrorist purposes or to be sold at the black market.
Several thousands of samples of blood serum of COVID-19 patients (most of them of Slavic ethnicity) were transported from Ukraine to Walter Reed Army Institute of Research in the United Stated – allegedly for trials of treatment and prevention of COVID-19.
Everyone knows how sensitive Western states are when it comes to transferring biological samples of their citizens abroad. And there is a good reason for that – theoretically, samples may be used to create bioagents capable of selectively targeting different ethnic populations.
The activity of biolabs in Ukraine that we track back to 2014, and US-implemented program of so-called reform of Ukrainian healthcare system triggered uncontrolled growing incidence of dangerous and economically relevant infections in Ukraine. There is an increase in the number of cases of rubella, diphtheria, tuberculosis. Occurrence of measles has increased more than 100-fold. The World Health Organization said Ukraine runs high risks of having a polio outbreak. There is evidence that in Kharkov, where one of the labs is located, 20 Ukrainian soldiers died of swine flu in January 2016, 200 more were hospitalized. By March 2016, the total of 364 people had died of swine flu in Ukraine. Besides, outbreaks of African swine fever occur regularly in Ukraine. In 2019, there was an outbreak of a disease that had symptoms similar to plague.
While the US itself shut down military-purpose biological research on its territory due to high risks it posed to American population, the Kiev authorities actually agreed to turn their country into a biological testing site and have their citizens used as potential test subjects. Those experiments bearing potential country-scale risks continued for years. This once again proves the cynicism of Kiev’s Western patrons who keep shouting from every rooftop that they care for the fate of Ukrainians.
As reported by Reuters, WHO recommended that Ukraine should eliminate its stocks of pathogens to avoid possible leaks that might trigger disease spread among the population. It is not known for sure whether Kiev has complied.
The materials that our Defense Ministry got hold of prove that all serious high-risk research in Ukrainian biolabs was directly supervised by US experts who had diplomatic immunity. Our Defense Ministry reports that at this moment the Kiev regime, as demanded by the Western sponsors, hastily covers up all traces so that the Russian side could not get hold of direct evidence of the US and Ukraine violating Article 1 of the BTWC. They rush to shut down all biological programs. Ukraine’s Health Ministry ordered to eliminate biological agents deposited in biolabs starting from 24 February 2022. We infer from the instructions to lab personnel that the order of elimination of collections suggested that they should be destroyed irrevocably. Having analyzed the destruction certificates, we can say that the Lvov lab alone destroyed 232 containers with pathogens of leptospirosis, 30 – of tularemia, 10 – of brucellosis, 5 – of plague. The total of more than 320 containers was eliminated. Pathogens’ titles and excessive amounts give reason to think that this work was done as part of military biological programs.
Now let me make a separate address to our colleagues from Europe.
All those years, there was a site for dangerous biological tests on the doorstep of the European Union. We call to think of a real biological threat to the population of European states that may be posed by uncontrolled spread of biological agents from Ukraine. As we know from our experience with COVID-19, this cannot be stopped. Should this be the case, it will encompass the entire Europe.
US representatives get rather confused when speaking about the US involvement in biological activity on the territory of Ukraine. During hearings of the US Congress on 8 March, Undersecretary of State Victoria Nuland in fact confirmed that there were biolabs in Ukraine where military-purpose biological research had been conducted. When asked by Senator Marco Rubio whether Ukraine had biological and chemical weapons, she responded that Ukraine had biological research facilities that “should not fall in the hands of Russian forces”.
At the same time, the Department of State sticks to the point that allegedly there are no US-controlled biolabs in Ukraine. Hence a question to the American delegation. How does this reconcile with 2005 Agreement between the US Department of Defense and Ukrainian Ministry of Health Concerning Cooperation in the Area of Prevention of Proliferation of Technology, Pathogens, and Expertise that could be Used in the Development of Biological Weapons? This document is available on the Internet. According to Article 3 of this agreement, the US Department of Defense may provide assistance to the Ministry of Health of Ukraine in the area of “cooperative biological research, biological threat agent detection and response” with regard to “dangerous pathogens located at the facilities in Ukraine”.
We emphasize that biological threats defy all borders. No region of the world can feel totally safe today. The United States supervises several hundreds of biolabs in 30 countries, i.a. in the Middle East, Africa, South-East Asia, and along the perimeter of former USSR. Washington does not agree to subject them to international verification. Starting from 2001, it has been impeding elaboration of a binding protocol to the BTWC that should envisage a reliable verification mechanism to monitor states’ compliance with the Convention. This cannot but make us think that the United States has something to conceal. I call on the colleagues from those regions to think of what sort of activity Washington is carrying out on their territories and what consequences it may have for the population.
We foresee the reaction of our Western colleagues who will definitely say that this information is all fake and Russian propaganda. However this sort of wishful thinking will hardly help Europeans should Ukraine and its neighboring states have outbreaks of dangerous diseases that would subsequently spread beyond their borders. This risk seems rather real if we take into account considerable interest that Ukrainian radical and nationalist groups have in research of dangerous pathogens that was conducted in Ukraine in the interests of the US Department of Defense. We have information that Pentagon instructed its Ukrainian protégés that, should any incidents occur, they should instantly accuse Russian Armed Forces who allegedly launch strikes against research and medical facilities, or blame it all on “Russian subversive teams”.
Russian Defense Ministry keeps analyzing the biological situation in Ukraine and all incoming materials. What we shared today is a small portion of information that we have. We will share the details shortly as UNSC official documents so that you could study them.
We feel obliged to keep the Security Council updated on the situation with US military-purpose biological activity in Ukraine that creates real risks for international peace and security. We intend to get back to this topic soon. We would not exclude a possibility of activating mechanisms envisaged by Articles 5 and 6 of the BTWC. For now, we would like to hear answers of the US side to the questions that we asked.
Thank you.
Right of reply:
Mr.President,
What are the takeaways of this discussion? As we supposed, none of our colleagues spoke to the point that we raised.
While my American colleague was “hurling thunderbolts”, accusing us (quite predictably) of propaganda, two things came to my mind. The first one is a Russian proverb that can be roughly translated as “a guilty mind is never at ease”. The louder our colleagues cry when making baseless attempts to shift the blame on us, the more we believe that we hit a nerve when we raised their unseemly activities in Ukraine. Secondly, you cannot help recalling another episode that was repeatedly mentioned in various contexts. I mean C.Powell’s famous lab tube that he demonstrated in this very room and that served as a formal reason for US invasion of Iraq that caused an enormous number of victims and huge damage. It affected the entire region and triggered i.a. creation of ISIL terrorist organization. Our Albanian colleague talked about a Pandora’s box today. Well, this was a Pandora’s Box. Many of you said you were not aware of Ukraine’s biological programs, but this does not mean they did not exist. Military research is a secret venture. Those engaged in it would not report it to USG Nakamitsu.
Think of Raqqa and Mosul that were razed to the ground. The US-led coalition buried thousands of civilian lives under the ruins of these cities. Dead bodies lay under the rubble for several months, and I can’t remember our colleagues spilling their righteous anger on that matter. We repeatedly raised it at UNSC meetings, but the topic simply died out and no one would get back to it. However not a day goes by without speculations about atrocities of Russian forces, daily attacks on hospitals, kindergartens, schools, maternity clinics, use of cluster bombs, which our Defense Ministry refuted repeatedly.
Maternity hospital #1 in Mariupol has become proverbial in this respect. Let me ask – did you listen to what we said here on Monday, 7 March? It was about militants and radicals turning this building in a gun post. We warned about it back then, but you would not listen, and you do not want to listen to what we say. You saw pictures of the maternity hospital allegedly hit by a bomb or missile. I also have them here. They show a building, windowless but not ruined. I bet you can imagine what should have happened to a building hit by a bomb or missile strike, and also to everyone inside. I have photo and video footage from inside the building. It shows a mess, furniture scattered upside down, and intact chairs.
Let me ask again: can you imagine what sort of damage would have been inflicted by a bomb or missile strike? Military experts could tell you. As a matter of fact, they already have. They demonstrated a photo of the crater next to the building. By all indications, it was caused by an underground explosion. In the meantime, we are told about 17 people injured in this building, and none killed. As a proof, we are supposed to accept staged photos of Ukrainian blogger Marianna Podgurskaya taken by AP stringer Evgeniy Maloletka. By the way, web users already discovered that she roleplays different women in different photos.
We are appalled by the vile and dirty campaign besmirching the Russian military, who are accused of attacking civil facilities on purpose. You blame us for fakes and propaganda, but you ignore an overwhelming amount of fakes, replicated by Ukrainian and Western centers for special psychological operations. At the same time, you keep shamefully silent about the fact that you almost cut off access to Russian sources of information. Over these days, we have learnt much about the freedom of speech which you believe yourselves to be champions of.
Let me respond to my British colleague who cited, incompletely as usual, the words of Minister Lavrov that we did not start a war. Here is the full quote: “We did not start the war, we want to put an end to it”. Indeed, it was not started by us, it was started 8 years ago by the Kiev authorities in Donbas.
Yesterday, a video was uploaded on the Internet depicting Ukrainians in military uniform somewhere near Kharkov who reportedly down Russian aircraft from a portable air defense launcher. Close by, there is a white vehicle (seemingly a Toyota) with U.N. insignia. Presumably, those people arrived on the scene by this vehicle. We already asked representatives of U.N. Secretariat about it, but were reassured that U.N. vehicles were not used by Ukrainian Territorial Defense Forces (U.N. vehicles were previously reported to be used in Kramatorsk). We insist that the United Nations should investigate this incident. Even if it turns out that this car is not a U.N. vehicle, usage of U.N. insignia on transport that is used in hostilities is unacceptable.
Thank you.
* * *
Remarks by U.S. Amb. Thomas-Greenfield at a U.N. Security Council Meeting Called by Russia to Spread Disinformation About Ukraine
Thank you, Mr. President. And thank you to our briefers for your remarks this morning.
Russia asked the Security Council for today’s meeting for the sole purpose of lying and spreading disinformation, and that is exactly what you have heard from the Russian PR this morning. You also heard from Ms. Nakamitsu that the U.N. is not aware of any biological or chemical weapons programs in Ukraine.
Last month, Secretary Blinken laid out with tragic accuracy what Russia was about to do. He specifically warned that Russia would manufacture a pretext for attack, and even cautioned that Russia would fabricate allegations about chemical or biological weapons to justify its own violent attacks against the Ukrainian people. Today, the world is watching Russia do exactly what we warned it would. Russia is attempting to use the Security Council to legitimize disinformation and deceive people to justify President Putin’s war of choice against the Ukrainian people. And China, too, has been spreading disinformation in support of Russia’s outrageous claims. ?
I will say this once: Ukraine does not have a biological weapons program. There are no Ukrainian biological weapons laboratories supported by the United States – not near Russia’s border or anywhere.
So here are the facts: Ukraine owns and operates its own public health laboratory infrastructure. These facilities make it possible to detect and diagnose diseases like COVID-19, which benefit us all. The United States has assisted Ukraine to do this safely and securely. This is work that has been done proudly, clearly, and out in the open. This work has everything to do with protecting the health of people. It has absolutely nothing – absolutely nothing – to do with biological weapons.
In fact, it is Russia that has long maintained a biological weapons program in violation of international law. It is Russia that has a well-documented history of using chemical weapons. It is Russia who is the aggressor here. It was Russian operatives who poisoned Aleksey Navalny and Sergey and Yulia Skripal with nerve agents. It is Russia that continues to support the Assad regime in Syria and shield it from accountability when the U.N. and the OPCW have confirmed that Assad has repeatedly used chemical weapons over the past several years.
And we are deeply concerned that Russia’s calling for this meeting is a potential false flag effort in action – exactly the kind we have been warning about, including from Secretary Blinken here in the Security Council last month. Russia has a track record of falsely accusing other countries of the very violations that Russia itself is perpetrating. And given that and consistent with our previous statements, we have serious concerns that Russia may be planning to use chemical or biological agents against the Ukrainian people. The intent behind these lies seems clear, and it is deeply troubling. We believe Russia could use chemical or biological agents for assassinations, as part of a staged or false flag incident, or to support tactical military operations. From the beginning, our strategy to counter Russia’s tactics has been to share what we know with the world transparently. And candidly, we have been right more often than we’d like.
We’re not going to let Russia get away with lying to the world or staining the integrity of the Security Council by using this forum as a venue for legitimizing Putin’s violence. Russia has attacked homes, schools, orphanages, and hospitals. Russia has attacked civilian infrastructure, including water and sanitation facilities. Their forces are laying Ukrainian cities under siege. Hundreds of thousands of civilians now don’t have access to electricity for heat or drinking water to stay alive. Russia is the aggressor here.
And despite Russia’s best efforts, the media – and everyday Ukrainians – are documenting this truth on the ground. Russia can’t paint over the front page of the New York Times, which on Monday featured the bodies of a Ukrainian mother and her two children who died while trying to cross a bridge outside Kyiv in their attempt to flee to safety. Russia cannot cover up the work of AP news reporters who captured a doctor attempting to resuscitate an 18-month-old, Kirill, who died from Russian shelling in Mariupol. Russia cannot suppress the social media post, confirmed and amplified by CBS News, that told the story of the 11-year-old Ukrainian boy who fled to Slovakia, by himself, with only a passport, a plastic bag, and a phone number scrawled on his hands. Russia cannot silence the Al-Jazeera report of Russian soldiers terrorizing Ukrainian cities. And Ukrainian journalists are risking their lives every day to deliver to the world the latest on the ground facts, such as Novoe Vremye reporting on the reckless behavior of Russian forces towards Ukraine’s nuclear facilities.
Russia is failing in its quest to create an alternative reality. In fact, not even Russian diplomats can keep their propaganda straight. Just yesterday, the Kremlin’s spokesman said he didn’t have clear information about the Russian forces who fired on a maternity hospital. Then the Foreign Minister himself denied Russia attacked Ukraine at all, right before admitting that Russia deliberately targeted this maternity hospital in Mariupol. Their fabrications didn’t matter, because the world had already seen the searing images broadcast on CNN of bloodied pregnant women being evacuated from the scene of Russia’s attack on the hospital.
Even Russia’s own citizens are tiring of such lies. Russian athletes are writing “no war” on their shoes and on TV cameras. Russian citizens are marching in the streets and protesting Putin’s war of choice. And even Russian state TV pundits – Putin’s own propaganda arm – have called for Putin to stop the military action.
This is why we didn’t object to holding today’s meeting. Today’s meeting has confirmed our predictions, revealed Russia’s objectives to the world, and exposed Russia’s lies for what they are – a malicious effort to cover for the atrocities being committed by Russia as part of their illegal and unprovoked attack on Ukraine. It is a page directly out of the Russian playbook, and it will not convince us one bit.
The world is watching. Photographic and video evidence is mounting, and you will be held to account for your actions. We will not let atrocities slide. Unlike the Russian government – whose first instinct is to silence – we are confident that truth and transparency will prevail.
We call on President Putin to end this unprovoked, unconscionable war against the Ukrainian people.
Thank you.
* * *
Statement by U.K. Ambassador Barbara Woodward at the
UN Security Council Meeting on Ukraine
Thank you Mr President,
Russia has today brought into the Security Council a series of wild, completely baseless and irresponsible conspiracy theories.
Let me put it diplomatically: they are utter nonsense.
There is not a shred of credible evidence that Ukraine has a biological weapons programme.
Ukraine is a State Party to the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BWC) in good standing.
As we’ve heard, the research facilities are established facilities set up to deal with public health hazards.
The UN briefers today have confirmed this.
This is yet another lie in Russia’s disinformation campaign.
They said they would not invade Ukraine. They then invaded. Foreign Minister Lavrov then said they hadn’t invaded, and he repeated this absurdity yesterday.
A whole pack of lies.
They said Ukraine was preparing a “dirty bomb”.
That was a lie too.
They said yesterday that a pregnant woman staged her injuries in the Mariupol hospital bombing.
That was a grotesque lie.
Russia is sinking to new depths today, but this Council must not get dragged down with it.
So let’s get back to the facts.
Russia is invading Ukraine in violation of international law.
Russia is killing hundreds of civilians through indiscriminate shelling of Ukrainian cities.
It is using cluster munitions and thermobaric rockets, weapons designed to inflict maximum damage wherever they are deployed.
It is targeting hospitals and schools and committing war crimes.
Thousands of Russian and Ukrainian soldiers are dead. Deaths that will shatter the lives of families they have left behind.
2.5 million Ukrainians have become refugees. One million children forced to flee from President Putin’s invasion.
This is a war of choice that Russia needs to end.
Colleagues,
Russia has broken its commitments under the Charter but we must not let it subvert the multilateral system itself.
As the UN said today, Russia is now putting at threat the global framework for peace and security. The Security Council is responsible for addressing many serious conflicts around the world. We have important work to do.
We do not sit in this Chamber to be an audience for Russia’s domestic propaganda.
And we should not allow Russia to abuse its permanent seat to spread disinformation and lies and pervert the purpose of the Security Council.
Let us resolve today that this Council remains focussed on the real threats to international peace and security.
I thank you.
I watched / listened to some of the Sunday morning talk shows.
The visuals presented are so overwhelming that it’s difficult to hear
what’s being said, and more importantly, what’s not being said.
Not one reporter, pundit, or anchor breathed so much as a word
about biolabs, bioweapons, or anything of the sort. They seriously
did not want to address it, although a UN security council meeting
seems like it would warrant some coverage. After all, we watched
endless iterations of Colin Powell’s fake yellowcake presentation.
What I did hear were veiled references to an expected ‘false flag’
featuring Russia using chemical weapons. We are being set up
for a ‘false false flag’.
SMITH MUNDT ACT OF 1948. That’s when the US government farmed domestic propaganda out to the other FIVE EYES, this act was modernized(SEMIOTICS, right) in the 2012 NDAA REAUTHORIZATION. VEBLEN and VONNEGUT LAUGHED!
Having read these submissions by Russia,U.S and UK Permanent Representatives,I can’t but agree with what the Russian Ambassador has said. First,he cited as examples where the labs are located,the types of research done in those labs i.e anthrax,bat coronavirus,plagues,H5N1 etc etc.Second,they cited Ass. Secretary Victoria Nuland who admitted to U.S that Ukraine indeed had those lab which She said shouldn’t fall in the hands of Russians.Lastly,Russia cited the documents that were found which confirmed that indeed the research was being carried out there.
Whereas,when it came U.S and UK Representatives to present their side,they only engaged in denials, accusations against Russia but with nothing to invalidate Russia’s claims.
Therefore, unless U.S present real facts other than denials and smears against Russia,,U.S and Ukraine are yet to prove that what they’re being accused of is false. Until they prove otherwise,they are responsible for those biolabs research.
The question is where the documents cited by the Russian Rep. can be found?
I had a look at the website of the Russian MoD. They don’t have any archives for recent events. If the cited documents are on that website, as claimed by the Rep., I did not find them.
Russian Rep said that they would be made available after they were reviewed.
Wars are past, present and future. The depressing thing is the degree of lying and suppression my country is committed to. To shut down access to a country with whom we are not at war is a crime beyond description. Perhaps we are at war…with our own people, a propaganda war.
Incidentally, trusting my source, February 26, 2022, the US embassy in Ukraine removed all their website links to the DoD funded bioweapons labs.
There are no innocent parties in his current Russia versus Ukraine, and the UN that is supposed to a Neutral arbitrator between nations is no more than a charity and janitorial cleaners of the chaos US European created chaos.
There is plentiful evidence of US military and intelligence in partnership with University Employees of releasing of biological, radioactive and chemicals upon its own people.
Why is a small Island placed on a Non Tresspass by US Govermeng at request of US military.
Where was Lyme disease concocted.
My step father was in US military serving at what was then a nuclear weapons plutonium and uranium e brightest plant and had security duty when US civilian and military release radioactive dust in the and waters of Columbia River and experiment to study effects on down mind populace, animal and fish results.
And watched as military led projects just dug holes to bury liquid and solid radioactive materials.
Use of VOLUNTEER.prisoners for testing results of CHEMICALS,NUCLEAR AND BIOLOGIAL AGENTS, the prisoners received reduced sentences but did not understand the dangerous health effects as it was called medical testing.
During nuke test they had military men enter and cross blast zones just after it learned from sky.
Science for science sake, and fat paychecks , clear the conscience of both initiators and developers of human misery.
The US/NATO arguments are getting rather “lawyerly” in that they are using language precisely in order to deceive or deflect. As can be seen here: there is no official denial that a widespread program of working with dangerous biological agents in laboratories funded and staffed by an outfit called the Defense Threat Reduction Agency, part of the US Defence Department. exists. This was confirmed at the Congressional level by Rubio/Nuland. Instead, an argument is pursued that the above was not engaged in, specifically, “biological warfare” research. The Russians do not, specifically, claim the programs involved “biological warfare” but do note the programs were funded by the US military. The US/NATO arguments also spin the term “bio lab” – used by Rubio/Nuland – into a far more benign “public health laboratory” which following became the preferred term in the western media.
Similar techniques were used in official pronouncements regarding the “maternity hospital”. Sullivan in particular hammered the term in his efforts to portray a base barbarity in Russian conduct. While technically correct that the facility had a medical pre-natal purpose, the fact that it had been evacuated and then occupied by armed men days before the presumed explosions is crucial to understanding the content of the complaint. Sullivan is encouraging the listener to believe, falsely, that natal patients and even infants were present during the fighting, and does so by deliberately omitting the specific context.
That these verbal sleight-of-hands are being done with the specific intent and purpose of bolstering a particular narrative, the bad faith informing this narrative should be noted by those trying to understand the current crisis objectively.
Even with all the evidence of so many years, I can hardly believe the refusal of the US and UK reps to accept as even worth discussing any of the carefully gathered facts presented by Russia. The USA seems to have found a rep as bad as all their previous people, and Karen Peirce of novichok/Syrian poison gas fame has been replaced by one of the same quality. I hope that investigations of the findings will go on, but the narrative of the West overwhelms all else.
The real irony in all of this is the fact that whether the Russian claims are true or false, any US denials of the claims have no credibility in the views of others because we lied about the weapons of mass destruction possessed by Saddam Hussein.
The simple fact is that you can lie to people only a certain number of times before they stop believing you. When will our so-called leaders ever learn that?
PS As an aside, I do not doubt the Russian claims given the neo-nazi infiltration of Ukraine’s military.
PPS As another aside, it is sad that there are some people who will believe anything regardless of how many times they have been lied to.
i don’t understand the Albanian representative’s statement. he states that the UN is unaware of any biological weapons programs in Ukraine, that they are only aware of health facilities. given the US denial of the existence of such facilities (at the highest levels) the reports of them MUST be Russian propaganda.
and yet, we heard Victoria Nuland testify before US Congress that she was aware of their existence and the potential danger of their contents. if the US knew about the facilities and the UN did not, doesn’t that constitute a violation against UN statutes in itself?
i am no Russophile, but the unabashed and absurd double standards asserted by the UN representatives’ statements here makes the UN itself look like a grand sham.
Glenn Greenwald is putting his stuff on youtube now. He traces ‘new’ UKR bio-weapons scare to some older pre- and post-9/11 Anthrax templates, plus newer Wuhan mysteries. All of which he had covered independently.
hxxps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HmyDGZsrQyA
He is a bit like a 9th grade civics teacher, but always gets the points across!
I actually watched an hour of this. While the US and UK screeds were entirely predictable, this transcript excludes a similar harangue from the Albanian rep, immediately after the revelation about the UKR ‘crisis actress’ dressed up as bombing victim at Mariupol hospital. Below is their abbreviated Tweet version, edited only for compactness. The US State Dept. seems to have an instant global Zoom meeting or PR release at the ready, for all such occasions. An Instantaneous version of the old Reagan line-of-the-day that dictated their wondrous works to the public, immediately after their Communal breakfast meetings!
Albania in UN
@AlMissionUN·
18h
#UNSC on #Ukraine: #AlbaniaUNSC?? denounced firmly??’s unsubstantiated allegations on #WMD in??
UNSC should not be abused with conspiracy theories, but deal w/ the invasion that is wreaking 2 countries, threatening a continent & disrupting the entire?
Mar 9 2/2. Instructed our ?? team at #UNSC to coordinate with partners to pressure #Russia to stop attacks on civilians.
#StopRussianAggression
#UnitedWithUkraine
1/2. Horrified by #Russia’s attack against hospital in #Mariupol.
No words to express pain and indignation for this barbaric act.
Killing civilians, destroying maternity wards,reducing civilian infrastructure to rubble,are crimes that must be condemned by the whole world.