Resurgent Summer for Biological and Chemical Weapons Disinformation

Recycled, repackaged, and recirculating — Russian-backed online misinformation and disinformation related to chemical and biological weapons found new life this summer. Although versions of these zombie mis/disinformation falsehoods have been repeatedly fact-checked and debunked, each new circulation of these falsehoods exposes a potentially new audience to these recycled narratives. Particularly in the lead-up to the U.S. presidential election in November, narratives related to chemical/biological weapons have the potential to ignite into a firestorm overnight.

Even in their latest developments, these campaigns largely tread well-worn paths related to three key allegations pushed directly from the Russian government:

• Chemical weapons in Ukraine
• U.S. bioweapons laboratories
• U.S. medical experimentation on Black people

Each of these narratives, previously ignited during the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak in 2020 and Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, reared their heads in new articles and social media posts during summer 2024. In the past month alone, PeakMetrics found approximately 86,000 posts on X (Twitter), in English and Russian, referencing Ukraine and biological/chemical weapons. 

Our “Detect. Decipher. Defend.” Framework

Detect:

The narrative publicized by the Russian government that the U.S. is supplying chemical weapons to Ukraine drove the biggest spike in X (Twitter) posts in the last month, on August 25th. 

Underscoring the recurrent narrative of this narrative, the original Russian news agency article that sparked this surge describes the U.S. as “remains the main supplier” of chemical weapons substances to the Ukrainian military. A post debunking this article, from a Russia watcher, was actually a key driver of the August 25th spike. 

This post was viewed approximately 55,000 times and drew nearly 1,000 reposts. In some cases, this viral post was shared by users advancing the Russian narrative on U.S. chemical weapons that the author was attempting to refute — highlighting the risks that debunking some false narratives may inadvertently amplify them. 

Decipher:

At the same time, PeakMetrics detected a counter-narrative from the Ukrainian side, calling out Western allies for their alleged silence and complicity on Russia’s use of chemical weapons on Ukrainian troops. 

This narrative was sparked by a Kyiv Independent English-language news article, ‘Silent killer’: Russia boosts grinding Donbas advance with chemical warfare. PeakMetrics found that the article was reposted or linked more than 3,500 times on X (Twitter) since its publication on August 30th. A key social media post framing the article in the context of alleged silence from Ukraine’s Western allies was reposted more than 1,000 times and received upwards of 120,000 views. 

Defend:

Weaving together recurring disinformation themes around U.S. “biolabs” and the history of medical exploitation of African-Americans, PeakMetrics detected the resurgence of a narrative alleging the relocation of U.S. bioweapons laboratories from Ukraine to Africa. 

The timing of this narrative’s resurgence appears calculated to build on fears surrounding the World Health Organization declaration of a global health emergency for monkeypox — in response to the resurgence of cases in Africa. 

Back in 2023, a senior Russian government official alleged that the U.S. moved part of its "unfinished" Ukrainian projects researching biological weapons to African nations including Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, and Uganda. 

In June 2024, that narrative was recycled by the same Russian senior official, Igor Kirillov, and spread in an article by Russian state-owned RT and by the Russian embassy in South Africa in a post on X (Twitter). Notably, a video of Kirillov making this claim was posted on X (Twitter) by account called @AfricanHub_ and viewed more than 37,000 times. The account, which describes itself as “telling the African stories to the world,” intersperses African interest stories and videos with content that is anti-U.S. and pro-Russian. 

As the monkeypox health emergency evolves, this threatening narrative has the potential to accelerate.