Russia claims U.S. labs across Ukraine are secretly developing biological weapons

Russia claims U.S. labs across Ukraine are secretly developing biological weapons

　　Transcript¹

　　Russia's attempts to convince the world that its invasion of Ukraine is justified² have mostly fallen flat in the U.S. But a recent disinformation campaign has gained some traction³.

　　STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

　　Russia's disinformation campaigns to justify⁴ invading Ukraine have failed up to now, but Russia keeps trying. And one conspiracy⁵ theory is gaining some ground here in the United States. It's spreading through some of the same channels that domestic extremists rely on.

　　NPR's Odette Yousef covers domestic extremism, so she's on this story. Good morning.

　　ODETTE YOUSEF, BYLINE⁶: Good morning.

　　INSKEEP: What's the Russian narrative⁷?

　　YOUSEF: Well, this has come to be known as the biolabs conspiracy, Steve, and it goes like this. The U.S. has laboratories all over Ukraine where it's secretly developing biological weapons or conducting dangerous experiments, and so Russia's using this to justify its attack on Ukraine, you know, to protect itself and perhaps even the wider world.

　　You know, this claim isn't new, Steve. Russia has a long history, dating back to Soviet⁸ times, of claiming that the U.S. has been developing biological or chemical weapons and even, in the 1980s, claimed that the virus that causes AIDS was a result of that. But I think the thing that's notable now is that this was one of several disinfo narratives⁹ that was generally floating around and not gaining too much traction when the war began, until a Twitter user, who went under a handle @WarClandestine, seized on it in late February.

　　INSKEEP: Oh, that's when you know something is really true, when a random¹⁰ person without their name on a Twitter account says. Yeah, so who's @WarClandestine?

　　YOUSEF: So it's an account that belongs to somebody who traffics in the QAnon conspiracy theory. In the past, they've tweeted extremist views, calling for the execution of some public figures. I spoke¹¹ with Alex Kaplan about this. He's a senior researcher at Media Matters, and he said that this was a really important inflection point in the life of this narrative.

　　ALEX KAPLAN: I actually consider it to be potentially the most significant failure for a mainstream¹² social media platform to enforce their QAnon crackdown since they started in mid-2020 because the consequences of it have been so significant.

　　YOUSEF: You know, Steve, the QAnon community was maybe predisposed to believe this kind of claim. You know, it's already somewhat sympathetic to Russia and Vladimir Putin and, shall we say, skeptical¹³ of the U.S. government. And this has turned out to be a windfall for the Kremlin. Chinese state media have amplified¹⁴ it. And here in the U.S., it's tipped into a more mainstream right, you know, when Tucker Carlson started talking about it on his show on Fox News.

　　INSKEEP: Are there any facts here at all?

　　YOUSEF: Well, since 2005, the Department of Defense¹⁵ has partnered with Ukraine through something called the Biological Threat Reduction Program, which basically supports 46 labs that are run by local officials in Ukraine to deal with or detect pathogens that would be harmful if released into the wider world. So, for example, helping¹⁶ to monitor the spread of COVID-19 or defending against the spread of something called African swine fever. But, you know, the U.N. has said it's not aware of any bioweapons program in Ukraine.

　　INSKEEP: OK, so you have something that's for public health to detect pathogens that gets twisted into something to spread them. Is this changing any minds in the United States?

　　YOUSEF: No. You know, popular sentiment in the U.S. still seems to be overwhelmingly against Russia in this conflict. But I did put this question to Jared Holt. He's with the Atlantic Council's Digital Forensic¹⁷ Research Lab.

　　JARED HOLT: What I do worry this could do is provide people who are maybe skeptical or predisposed to conspiratorial¹⁸ thinking an easy ramp¹⁹ to, you know, dismiss the horrors that are being reported from news agencies all around the world about what's happening to people in Ukraine.

　　YOUSEF: And, you know, U.S. officials have warned this could be a false flag narrative to justify, you know, Russia possibly using chemical weapons in this war.

　　INSKEEP: NPR's Odette Yousef, thanks.

　　YOUSEF: Thank you.

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 justified   

a.正当的，有理的

参考例句：

• She felt fully justified in asking for her money back. 她认为有充分的理由要求退款。
• The prisoner has certainly justified his claims by his actions. 那个囚犯确实已用自己的行动表明他的要求是正当的。

3 traction   

n.牵引；附着摩擦力

参考例句：

• I'll show you how the traction is applied.我会让你看如何做这种牵引。
• She's injured her back and is in traction for a month.她背部受伤，正在作一个月的牵引治疗。

4 justify   

vt.证明…正当(或有理)，为…辩护

参考例句：

• He tried to justify his absence with lame excuses.他想用站不住脚的借口为自己的缺席辩解。
• Can you justify your rude behavior to me?你能向我证明你的粗野行为是有道理的吗？

5 conspiracy   

n.阴谋，密谋，共谋

参考例句：

• The men were found guilty of conspiracy to murder.这些人被裁决犯有阴谋杀人罪。
• He claimed that it was all a conspiracy against him.他声称这一切都是一场针对他的阴谋。

6 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

7 narrative   

n.叙述，故事；adj.叙事的，故事体的

参考例句：

• He was a writer of great narrative power.他是一位颇有记述能力的作家。
• Neither author was very strong on narrative.两个作者都不是很善于讲故事。

8 Soviet   

adj.苏联的，苏维埃的；n.苏维埃

参考例句：

• Zhukov was a marshal of the former Soviet Union.朱可夫是前苏联的一位元帅。
• Germany began to attack the Soviet Union in 1941.德国在1941年开始进攻苏联。

9 narratives   

记叙文( narrative的名词复数 )； 故事； 叙述； 叙述部分

参考例句：

• Marriage, which has been the bourne of so many narratives, is still a great beginning. 结婚一向是许多小说的终点，然而也是一个伟大的开始。
• This is one of the narratives that children are fond of. 这是孩子们喜欢的故事之一。

10 random   

adj.随机的；任意的；n.偶然的(或随便的)行动

参考例句：

• The list is arranged in a random order.名单排列不分先后。
• On random inspection the meat was found to be bad.经抽查，发现肉变质了。

11 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

12 mainstream   

n.（思想或行为的）主流；adj.主流的

参考例句：

• Their views lie outside the mainstream of current medical opinion.他们的观点不属于当今医学界观点的主流。
• Polls are still largely reflects the mainstream sentiment.民调还在很大程度上反映了社会主流情绪。

13 skeptical   

adj.怀疑的，多疑的

参考例句：

• Others here are more skeptical about the chances for justice being done.这里的其他人更为怀疑正义能否得到伸张。
• Her look was skeptical and resigned.她的表情是将信将疑而又无可奈何。

14 amplified   

放大，扩大( amplify的过去式和过去分词 )； 增强； 详述

参考例句：

• He amplified on his remarks with drawings and figures. 他用图表详细地解释了他的话。
• He amplified the whole course of the incident. 他详述了事件的全过程。

15 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

16 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

17 forensic   

adj.法庭的，雄辩的

参考例句：

• The report included his interpretation of the forensic evidence.该报告包括他对法庭证据的诠释。
• The judge concluded the proceeding on 10:30 Am after one hour of forensic debate.经过近一个小时的法庭辩论后，法官于10时30分宣布休庭。

18 conspiratorial   

adj.阴谋的，阴谋者的

参考例句：

• She handed the note to me with a conspiratorial air. 她鬼鬼祟祟地把字条交给了我。 来自辞典例句
• It was enough to win a gap-toothed, conspiratorial grin. 这赢得对方咧嘴一笑。 来自互联网

19 ramp   

n.暴怒，斜坡，坡道；vi.作恐吓姿势，暴怒，加速；vt.加速

参考例句：

• That driver drove the car up the ramp.那司机将车开上了斜坡。
• The factory don't have that capacity to ramp up.这家工厂没有能力加速生产。