The Trump administration wants to be friends again with Russia. But the possibility of rapprochement does not seem to be moderating Russian behavior. Russian media outlets have recently mounted a disinformation campaign aimed at damaging the US image in Central Asia, featuring unsubstantiated reports that the Pentagon is conducting military-related research in Kazakhstan on deadly pathogens.

It all began with a February 21 report published by the Russian outlet EurAsia Daily, claiming that “the Americans are supervising activities to prepare local laboratories [in Kazakhstan] for the study of especially dangerous infectious diseases.” The report was subsequently reprinted by multiple other Russian outlets and amplified on numerous Telegram channels. To date, the Kazakh government has not commented on the Russian reports.

Over the past few days, the disinformation campaign has gained lots of traction in the Russian-language information space. It aims to sow fear among Kazakhs, as the media reports claim, without providing any proof that “the work of US research facilities in Kazakhstan has previously led to outbreaks of infectious and viral diseases.”

The conspiracy theory that Washington is conducting dangerous biological experiments in Kazakhstan is nothing new. Russia and China have propagated such rumors at least since the outbreak of the Covid pandemic in early 2020. In 2023, a commentary published by a leading Chinese Communist Party mouthpiece, the Global Times, alleged the United States was “building covert biological-military laboratories in Central Asia.”

The Chinese account, along with the recent Russian reports, misstates or greatly distorts the facts. A facility situated on the outskirts of Kazakhstan’s commercial capital Almaty, known as the Central Reference Laboratory (CRL), was indeed built with US funds provided  under the auspices of an initiative known as the Nunn-Lugar Cooperative Threat Reduction Program. The CTR initiative “was created for the purpose of securing and dismantling weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and their associated infrastructure in the former states of the Soviet Union.”

Kazakhstan assumed full authority for operating the lab in 2017, and its functions are fully funded by the Kazakh state budget.

Kazakh officials have stated that the CRL’s main purpose is civilian research aimed at increasing “the technological and methodological possibilities of controlling especially dangerous infections and to conduct research to prevent mass epidemics in the country.”

The United States maintains a connection to the lab, but the American role is limited to “training and mentorship in biosafety and engineering maintenance,” according to a statement issued in 2022 by the US Mission in Kazakhstan.