BBC Report on Disinformation and the Georgian ‘Lab of Death’

A BBC investigation revealed that Russian media and officials made false claims about a US-funded laboratory in Georgia.

This Autumn, the Russian Foreign Ministry, Defence Ministry, and pro-Kremlin media claimed that untested drugs were given to Georgian citizens at a lab, resulting in a large number of deaths.

October 4, the Russian Defence Ministry said: “the death of a large number of volunteers at the same time is grounds to believe that at the Lugar Center they were testing a highly toxic chemical or biological agent.”

The correspondent, who met with doctors involved in the trials at the Lugar Center, found that the program in fact administered drugs approved by the World Health Organization in order to treat Hepatitis C. Thousands of Georgians were cured as a result, whilst only a few hundred patients died.

The lab invited Russians and the World Health Organization to visit, saying they had nothing to hide.

The Russian claims are believed to be anti-western disinformation aimed to create disapproval of the US in Georgia.

“It is our belief that Russia is spreading disinformation about subjects such as the Lugar Center in order to divert attention from their own bad behavior and create a smoke screen for what they’re doing,” said Elizabeth Rood, Deputy Chief of Mission at the US Embassy in Tbilisi.

The BBC report found that the claims were disinformation.

by Amy Jones 

Photo source: Sputnik news