The US and its Western allies on Thursday dismissed Russia's claims that banned biological weapons activities are taking place in Ukraine with American support, calling the allegation disinformation and fabrications.
Russia's UN ambassador said Moscow will pursue a UN investigation of its allegations that both countries are violating the convention prohibiting the use of biological weapons.
The dispute came in the third UN Security Council meeting on Ukraine-related issues that Russia has called since Tuesday.
This one focused on a 310-page document that Russia circulated to council members this week alleging there is “military biological” activity in Ukraine with support of the US Defence Department.
The document includes an official complaint to the council, allowed under Article VI of the 1972 biological weapons convention, and a draft resolution that would authorize the Security Council to set up a commission to address Russia's claims.
Russia's allegation of secret American biological warfare labs in Ukraine has been disputed by independent scientists, Ukrainian leaders and officials at the White House and Pentagon.
An Associated Press investigation in March found the claim was taking root online, uniting COVID-19 conspiracy theorists, QAnon adherents and some supporters of former President Donald Trump.
Ukraine does have a network of biological labs that have gotten funding and research support from the US.
They are owned and operated by Ukraine and are part of an initiative called the Biological Threat Reduction Program that aims to reduce the likelihood of deadly outbreaks, whether natural or manmade.
The US efforts date back to work in the 1990s to dismantle the former Soviet Union's program for weapons of mass destruction.
US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield called Thursday's meeting “a colossal waste of time,” rejected Russia's allegation as “pure fabrications brought forth without a shred of evidence.”
She said the claim is part of a Moscow “disinformation campaign” that is attempting “to distract from the atrocities Russian forces are carrying out in Ukraine and a desperate tactic to justify an unjustifiable war.”
“Ukraine does not have a biological weapons program,” she said. “The United States does not have a biological weapons program. There are no Ukrainian biological weapons laboratories supported by the United States.”
British Ambassador Barbara Woodward told the council that since Russia's Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine it “has repeatedly spread disinformation, including wild claims involving dirty bombs, chemical weapons and offensive biological research.”