On March 11, 2022, Vasily Nebenzya, Russia’s U.N. ambassador, told the U.N. Security Council that Russia had discovered evidence of U.S.-funded biological weapons research in Ukraine. U.S. officials denied the claims, accused Russia of using the U.N. to spread disinformation, and warned that Russia’s accusations could be a prelude to it using biological weapons.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian echoed unsupported claims by Russian officials that the U.S. is engaged in illegal chemical weapons development in Ukraine.
AP Photo
The statements followed several days of Russian officials making the claim, and Chinese officials echoing it. Several prominent right-wing figures in the U.S. amplified the claims by mischaracterizing Senate testimony from Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland about U.S. support for biological research in Ukraine.
Russia’s claims are part of a strategy of spreading disinformation before and during the invasion of Ukraine. The disinformation aims to bolster support for the war within Russia, undermine Ukrainian morale and sow confusion and discord in the U.S. and Europe. The biological warfare claims show how pernicious disinformation can be: difficult to counter and highly consequential.
Here are four articles from our archive to help you understand how Russia used disinformation to justify the invasion, how disinformation fits into Russia’s use of technology in warfare, what makes disinformation so challenging, and how targets of Russia’s disinformation have learned to respond.
1. False flags, provocations and disinformation
In the run-up to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, U.S. officials warned that Russia was preparing false flag attacks, that is attacks on its own forces to create the appearance of aggression by Ukraine. University of Washington’s Scott Radnitz explains the long history of false flag attacks and how difficult they are to pull off in the age of satellites, smart phones and the internet.
Radnitz also explains that false flag attacks are just one of many tools in Russia’s propaganda toolkit. Ubiquitous information technologies are fertile ground for disinformation campaigns. “With the prevalence of disinformation campaigns, manufacturing a justification for war doesn’t require the expense or risk of a false flag – let alone an actual attack,” he writes.
“At the start of its incursion into Crimea in 2014, the Kremlin used ‘active measures,’ including disinformation and deception, to prevent Ukrainian resistance and secure domestic approval,” he writes. “Russia and other post-Soviet states are also prone to claim a ‘provocation,’ which frames any military action as a justified response rather than a first move.”
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What are false flag attacks – and did Russia stage any to claim justification for invading Ukraine?