John Mark Dougan: Who Is The Conspiracy Theorist And Fugitive Attempting To Expose Secret US Biolabs In Ukraine?

John Mark Dougan, an American in Russia has inserted himself in a Kremlin-backed propaganda project to convince the world that Vladimir Putin’s true intent in his Ukrainian invasion is to destroy U.S-funded bioweapons facilities.

Now, he says, he’s in Ukraine to inspect some of those Biolabs—to prove they have been used by the American military to threaten Russia.

John Mark Dougan is an increasingly prominent figure in a burgeoning movement of conspiracy theorists who are trying to put meat on the bone of the baseless idea that the Russian invasion of Ukraine was done, at least in part, to destroy U.S-funded Biolabs developing deadly pathogens to unleash on the Russian people.

Dougan, a former cop, has been living in Moscow since 2016, when he fled Florida after being fingered in an elaborate fake news operation—one in which he claimed that slain Democratic National Committee staffer Seth Rich handed him a trove of leaked DNC emails.

The biolabs theory first broke onto the scene on Feb. 24, the same day Russia began hostilities in Ukraine.

These biological laboratories are funded by the Pentagon specifically to reduce the threat of infectious disease outbreaks.

This work began as a program to identify and secure former Soviet bioweapons facilities and destroy dangerous samples that pose a threat to humanity.

Multiple independent experts, international bodies, and the local governments—including those sympathetic to Russia—have confirmed that the American program has reduced the risk in the area, not increased it.

In the days and weeks that followed, the conspiracy gained steam.

It was boosted by a Russian embassy in Sarajevo, Russian state propaganda outlet Sputnik, former prime minister Dmitry Medvedev, Chinese state media Xinhua, and ultimately foreign minister Sergey Lavrov.

On March 11, Dougan uploaded a 188-page Russian-language document claiming to offer proof of the Americans’ malign intent.

He uploaded a rough English translation shortly thereafter. “The activities of military biological laboratories are aimed at modeling natural strains of various infections, creating special designs that will have external signs of natural epidemics, but will bring the heaviest losses.”