After the termination of U.S. aid, the Lugar Lab once again becomes a target of disinformation

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The Richard Lugar Center for Public Health Research is often a target of disinformation and conspiracy theories regarding its purpose and activities by Russian media, as well as Georgian actors having close ties with the Kremlin and pursuing Russian interests.

On August 3, tit was reported that the United States of America had cut off financial assistance to the Richard Lugar Center for Public Health Research and the National Center for Disease Control and Public Health. Presumably, this information is related to the termination of a 95 million worth US assistance package in response to Georgia’s backsliding on democracy and the Georgian parliament’s passing of the so-called agents law.” 

Representatives of the Georgian Dream, the People’s Power and others, on the one hand, assessed the termination of funding of the Lugar Laboratory as a instrument of pressure from the United States, and on the one hand, downplayed the importance and necessity of this funding. Moreover, pro-Kremlin actors targeted the Lugar Lab itself by disseminating disinformation and conspiracy theories of earlier times. It is worth noting that a representative of the People’s Power, a political party that nominally split from the Georgian Dream, questioned the activities of the Lugar Lab in 2010-2013 and emphasized the lack of transparency in this research center at that time. 

  • What kind of disinformation is being spread about the Lugar Lab?

Groups linked to the ruling party and the Kremlin-affiliated Georgian sources have begun spreading disinformation statements that have been systematically circulating for years. Between August 5 and August 12, the following actors spread disinformation about the Lugar Lab by: Davit Kartvelishvili of People’s Power in an interview with the Asaval-Dasavali newspaper; Tornike Molashvili, brother of the former Chairperson of the Chamber of Control, in an interview with kvira.ge; TV presenter Lali Moroshkina on her personal Facebook account; political analyst Hamlet Chipashvili in the Alt-Info’s program Alternative Vision; and Giorgi Iremadze, member of the political council of the political party Solidarity for Peace.

Disinformation Source
Lugar Lab’s activity is not transparent; Davit Kartvelishvili, Tornike Molashvili, and Giorgi Iremadze
A biological weapon is being developed in the Lugar Lab; Hamlet Chipashvili, and Giorgi Iremadze
Documentation presented by Igor Giorgadze, Jeffrey Silverman, and Dilyana Gaytandzhieva sheds light on a harmful activity in the laboratory; Hamlet Chipashvili, and Giorgi Iremadze
Laborites of the kind of Lugar Center also operate in Ukraine, and their illegal activity was confirmed by Victoria Nuland; Hamlet Chipashvili 
Strong viruses were developed in the Lugar Laboratory; Tornike Molashvili
The Lugar Laboratory is the cause of the rise in cancer diagnoses;  Lali Moroshkina
  • Is the activity of the Lugar Lab transparent?~

Davit Kartvelishvili, member of the People’s Power, Asaval-Dasavali August 12-18: “What the so-called Lugar Lab was engaged in and what was happening there is a topic shrouded in secrecy.”

Tornike Molashvili, August 5: “No one knows what those 95 million US dollars were actually spent on, which they have now frozen – funds that were, in reality, used to finance and support their spy network in Georgia. Similarly, no one knows what activities the Lugar Laboratory was involved in within our country.”

Giorgi Iremadze, political council member of Solidarity for Peace party, August 7: “An international commission must be allowed to enter the Lugar Laboratory. This commission should include interested individuals and microbiologists from our neighboring countries, including Russia and others. If they claim that this laboratory is not dangerous, why are they then not allowing an international commission to enter it?”

The Lugar Laboratory is a public health research institution dedicated to preventing infectious diseases. The laboratory operates under the supervision of the Georgian government in collaboration with international organizations, such as, for example, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The activities of the Lugar Center for Research are fully transparent to all interested parties, including journalists, with the exception of the covid pandemic period. In March 2023, the Lugar Research Center was visited by representatives from John Hopkins, Lund, Burnett, and Barcelona universities, as well as from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the World Health Organizations. 

Davit Kartvelishvili has claimed that the activities of the Lugar Lab from 2010 to 2013 “were shrouded in secrecy.” Myth Detector spoke with Ana Zhvania, the first head of the Lugar Research Center, to addresss this claim.

According to Ana Zhvania, openness was crucial in establishing the national, regional, and international impotence of the laboratory. Therefore, even during the construction of the Lugar Lab, tours were organized for journalists and other interested parties. The Lab staff were obligated to answer all questions from those people who found the research center’s activity interesting or important. Additionally, during that period, a memorandum of cooperation was signed with Georgian universities, allowing their students to receive training at the lab. The Lugar Laboratory also hosted school students. Ana Zhvania noted that training was provided to the heads of epidemiological stations located in Abkhazia. 

Ana Zhvania, the first head of the Lugar Research Center: “The center was openly accessible to everyone – whether from the private sector, business, public sector, or the fields of education or science. Journalists were allowed everywhere, including a shower room, storage, and laundry room – they could touch everything. This openness extended to international journalists as well. Among them wasRussia’s Yulia Latinina, who confirmed that there were no underground rooms.”

In 2013, a film crew of the TV company Russia visited the Lugar Lab. According to a TV Russia reporter, Alexandr Rogatkin, the administration of the Lugar Lab answered all questions, including those raised by Russia’s Chief Sanitary Inspector. In October 2018, the Kremlin-founded Sputnik Georgia visited the Lugar Lab together with other Russian media outlets (the Channel One Russia, and RIA Novosti). According to Amiran Gamkrelidze, he repeatedly invited highest ranking Russian officials to visit the Lugar Lab.

In November 2018, Georgia hosted an international delegation to demonstrate the transparency of the Lugar Center. Security and bio-experts from nearly 20 countries visited the facility; however, Russia declined to participate despite receiving an invitation from Georgia. Following the visit, international experts prepared a report, which was presented at a meeting of member states of the UN Convention on the Prohibition of Biological and Toxic Weapons. Additionally, the Lugar Lab has been visited multiple times by journalists, including those from Russia.

Read more in Myth Detector’s materials:

Hamlet Chipashvili, political analyst, August 5: “American journalist Jeffrey Silverman, who has lived in Georgia for many years, says that it this laboratory is a catastrophe for Georgia and is a biological weapon.”

 Giorgi Iremadze, political council member of the Solidarity for Peace, August 7:Jeffrey Silverman obtained documents showing that [the Lugar Lab] is a military facility, where various viruses are produced, experiments are conducted on people, and the lab is used as a biological-weapon.”

One of the most widespread allegations about the Lugar Lab is that it is engaged in the development of dangerous biological weapons, which may be used against Russia and other countries. Bulgarian journalist Dilyana Gaytandzhieva and Jeffrey Silverman, author at USA Really, an entity sanctioned by the US Department of the Treasury, frequently appear on Russian propaganda channels to spread allegations against the Lugar Laboratory.  Dilyana Gaytandzhieva, who has ties to the Kremlin media and Hezbollah, has published several article, claiming that the Lugar Laboratory is a facility for researching Pentagon’s bio-weapons. Jeffrey Silverman has repeatedly accused the laboratory of testing biological weapons. Silverman even suggested a link between the outbreak of swine flu in Georgia and the activities of the Lugar Lab. It is important to note that neither Silverman nor Gaytandzhieva has provided credible evidence to support their claims, or they have falsified or manipulatively presented various studies and documents that do not actually substantiate the accusations they make against the Lugar Lab. 

For example, in 2020, Dilyana Gaytandzhieva claimed, citing various documents, that the National Center for Disease Control (NCDC) and the Lugar Lab were involved in researching bat coronaviruses in 2014, alleging a connection to the creation of bioweapons by the United States. She alleged that these documents demonstrated US interest in developing biological weapons in Georgia. In reality, however, the project in question was focused on researching zoonotic pathogens in bats, a type of study conducted in many countries, with results that are publicly available.  Information about the research can be found in the reports prepared by the NCDC and the ISTC, and Lela Urushadze’s dissertation on the subject is available in the online catalogue of Ilia State University.

Also, in 2022, Gaytandzhieva further claimed, on a document she distributed, that US biological experiments were conducted on soldiers in Georgia and Ukraine. In reality, the study aimed to identify the presence of antibodies to zoonotic infections and to evaluate associated risk factors. No medications were tested on soldiers, and the results of the study, which involved examining blood samples, were made publicly available.

Read more in the following Myth Detector’s materials:

Hamlet Chipashvili, political analyst, August 5: “Russia has raised the issue of, repeatedly raised concerns about this laboratory, and you may recall that Giorgadze presented all the documents, with facts, the convincing documents on Russian TV channels, showing what this laboratory is doing.”

While speaking on Alt-Info’s program, Hamlet Chipashvili did not specify which particular activities of the Lugar Lab were revealed in the documents presented by Giorgadze. However, Chipashvili was likely referring to a 2018 case, when Igor Giorgadze, the former security minister of Georgia, claimed at a press conference in Moscow that the Lugar Laboratory in Tbilisi was conducting experiments on humans and creating biological weapon. A report by the Russian channel NTV, based on the documents presented by Giorgadze, alleged that the Lugar Laboratory was officially involved in testing a Hepatitis C medication, which cost 80 thousand USD, but provided free to citizens of Georgia.

The statements made by the former security minister are unfounded. The Lugar Laboratory’s involvement in the Hepatitis C elimination program is limited to diagnostics, not treatment. The claim as if Sovaldi medication caused patient deaths and was used for testing in Georgia is false because Sovaldi, i.e., Sofosbuvir, as well as Harvoni, used in the second stage of treatment, do not require further testing, as both medications have European and American quality verification documents and are widely used not only in Georgia, but in other countries around the world. When disinformation about Sovaldi was spread, Myth Detector found that this medication was on Russia’s list of vital drugs. It is also worth noting that Igor Giorgadze admitted he had no proof to support his claims of “experiments on people” being conducted at the Lugar Lab.

  • Disinformation that Nuland confirmed illegal activity of labs

Hamlet Chipashvili, political analyst, August 5: “Similar laboratories have been established in Ukraine, and have been operating there for a long time. When the Russian army occupied those territories where some of these facilities were located, these labs fell into Russian hands… Imagine this…Victoria Nuland, a US Assistant Secretary of State, who handed out buns during the May revolution in Kyiv… this lady was specifically summoned to Congress, where she took an oath, put her hand on the constitution, that she would tell the truth. So, she said that yes, they were concerned that the Russians would gain control of laboratories in Ukraine, that some of them had fallen into the Russian hands, and that they had managed to remove others, and that they were conducting biological research related to those weapons in those labs.”

In March 2022, Russian media widely covered US Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland’s statement about biolabs in Ukraine. According to Russian media, Washington admitted that Ukraine had biological weapons, which was allegedly confirmed by Victoria Nuland. In reality, Nuland said that Ukraine had biological research facilities, not biological or chemical weapons. Victoria Nuland’s statement does not confirm any illegal or harmful activities of the laboratories, but suggests that Russia might misuse the research materials of the laboratories in a malicious way. Additionally, information about the Ukrainian laboratories, modernized with the support from the USA, and activities conducted there was not classified. Nuland’s statement emphasized the need to prevent these research materials from falling into Russian hands. She also did not rule out the possibility of Russia using biological or chemical weapon and then blaming Ukraine for it.

Nuland did not specify the exact nature of the research materials, but publicly available information indicates that Ukrainian laboratories, like those in other countries, study threats posed by dangerous diseases, and the US has been assisting Ukraine in technically modernizing these biolabs and enhancing the level of their security since 2005. A biological threat reduction program was launched between Ukraine and the United States in 2005. The agreement aims to neutralize the biological threats that emerged after the collapse of the Soviet Union, which is part of the Nunn-Lugar program, which operated in Russia until 2012.

Read more in Myth Detector’s materials:

Lali Moroshkina, journalist, August 5: “The termination of funding for the Lugar Laboratory will be a relief. In fact, it is the first step towards independence! Now, it is up to the prosecutor’s office to expose this century’s scam, a history of many deceased, and the rise in cancer diagnoses in Tbilisi!”

Claims that cancer rates have increased among population in the vicinity of the laboratory have circulated earlier too, but no evidence has ever been provided. According to the NCDC, cancer risk factors are well established, and laboratory activities cannot influence cancer rates.

  • Accusations of virus spreadi and what we know about the Lugar Laboratory

Tornike Molashvili, August 5: “How can an institution of this kind operate in our country and be accountable to another country, even if it is the USA? Especially when we all know perfectly well that this laboratory was primarily engaged in developing dangerous viruses and it is no exaggeration to say that the country was sitting on a powder keg because of this dubious institution.”

Russian media have spread disinformation about the activities of the Richard Lugar Microbiology Laboratory since its inception of the latter. Russian sources have accused the lab of spreading the H1N1 virus and infecting mosquitoes with the Zika virus. In reality, these viruses existed in nature before the Lugar Laboratory was established and have periodically spread throughout the region. There is no evidence linking the activity of the laboratory to any viral infections.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Lugar Lab was falsely accused of being involved in creating and spreading the SARS-CoV-2 virus. In fact, the Lugar Laboratory is a significant research center that contributed to a global response to the pandemic by researching the virus and developing testing possibilities.

Myth Detector has repeatedly debunked false claims circulating about the laboratory. For more information, see the following materials:

The Lugar Lab was opened in 2011 under the Framework Agreement signed in 1997 and the Agreement on Cooperation in the Area of Prevention of Proliferation of Technology, Pathogens and Expertise Related to the Development of Biological Weapons signed between the U.S. Department of Defense and the Georgian Defense Ministry in 2002. In 2013, the laboratory came under the control of the National Center for Disease Control and Public Health, and since 2018, the Government of Georgia has been responsible for the full financing and operation of the Lugar Center and the laboratory network.

The center’s activities encompass several directions: ensuring food safety, protecting Georgian citizens from epidemics and infectious diseases, and reducing the threat of biological disasters.


The article has been written in the framework of Facebook’s fact-checking program. You can read more about the restrictions that Facebook may impose based on this article via this link. You can find information about appealing or editing our assessment via this link.

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Violation: Disinformation
Country: USA
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