Biomedical Lab in Tbilisi Source of Russian Conspiracy Theories

A $350 million biomedical lab financed by the US government has long been the objective of Russian disinformation operations and conspiracy theories since its opening in 2011. Lately, the laboratory, which is just outside Tbilisi, has been a key facility for testing for COVID-19.

The Tbilisi Lugar Lab is mainly used to reinforce infectious disease testing and to essentially monitor dangerous pathogens in the Caucasus territory leftover from Soviet-era Cold War programs.

For years, the facility has been showcased in Russian media as responsible for a number of false stories, from top-secret government testing on Georgian citizens, to being responsible for the COVID-19, Ebola and flu epidemics.

The latest absurd accusations came this winter as COVID-19 began to move out of China and into the world. Russian media and even the state defense bureaucrats pressed the likelihood that the lab was manufacturing the virus, ‘as part of a secret US bioweapons program.’

Known for promoting anti-Western conspiracy theories, Russian military affairs ‘expert’ Igor Nikulin told a reporter that the ‘virus appeared to be an American creation intended to hurt China and potentially Russia,’ while creating profits off the cure and possible vaccinations. 

"It can be beneficial for American corporations that are developing these kinds of new diseases just for profit. Or maybe for the Americans themselves, because America is the only country that has 400 military biological laboratories around the world, not only in Russia but also in China, in Malaysia, in Indonesia, in the Philippines — the US military is everywhere," the ‘expert’ said.

Nevertheless, since the outbreak of COVID-19, the lab has become the focal testing center for Georgia's battle to contain the virus.  The facility is being transformed into a testing lab engrossed in identifying people infected with the virus.

By B.Alexishvili