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By Alice Lee
What’s happening: As her tenure as U.S. Director of National Intelligence ends, Tulsi Gabbard released a video and declassified documents that Kremlin-linked news sources quickly embraced as proof of a long-debunked claim that the U.S. supported the production of bioweapons in Ukraine.
Context: The supposed presence of dangerous bioweapons labs was a key pretext used by Russia for its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, and has remained one of the most persistent Kremlin-backed disinformation narratives of the last five years.
A closer look: Gabbard, who previously announced plans to step down from her position this month, posted a video on X on June 12, 2026, in which she claimed that newly declassified documents revealed “dangerous… research that threatens the health and well-being of the American people and people around the world.” The documents in question were released the same day by Gabbard’s office. Her video gained 37 million views in three days.
Resurgence: Gabbard’s post put the false claim that the U.S. had supported the development of bioweapons in Ukraine back at the top of the agenda of the Kremlin propaganda apparatus.
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