That was the sub-headline at the Poyner Institute's Politifact last month.
It came to mind because of a twitter thread that Izabella Kaminska wrote about smallpox and Russian cover stories (see below) In a nutshell, don't trust Russia. Good general advice.
Some other good general advice is don't trust Ukraine, especially if, as Ms Kaminska is, you are of Polish extraction (see Volhynia and Galicia) but I digress. Back to smallpox.
Mr. Gates had been in the news e.g. The Independent, November 9: "Bill Gates warns of smallpox terror attacks as he seeks research funds" and Precision Vaccinations, November 8: "Gates Germ-Game Warning Motivates Smallpox Vaccine Discussions"
Anyhoo, although completely unrelated to her point, that's what I thought of when reading Ms Kaminska's thread re: the story from RT, the new name for the old Soviet propaganda rag, Russia Today:
This interview with Ken Alibek who gave the West a lot of the info about Russia’s secret biowarfare programme in the 80s and 90s (known as Biopreparat) cites a very similar virus defrost story as a useful cover for accidental leaks from the programme… https://t.co/HhmLit3x8H
— Izabella Kaminska (@izakaminska) December 14, 2021
MUCH MORE (thread)
There are two laboratories authorized to retain samples of the virus that causes smallpox, the Russian State Research Center of Virology and Biotechnology VECTOR outside of Novosibirsk and the American Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta.
