Biopreparat

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Biopreparat
Biopreparat (Russian: , "Biological substance preparation") was the Soviet Union's major biological
warfare agency from the 1970s on. It was a vast, ostensibly civilian, network of secret laboratories, each of which
focused on a different deadly bioagent. Its 30,000 employees researched and produced pathogenic weapons for use in
a major war.
History
Establishment
Biopreparat was established in 1973 as a "civilian" continuation of earlier Soviet bio-warfare programs (see Soviet
biological weapons program). The project was reportedly initiated by academician Yuri Ovchinnikov who convinced
General Secretary Leonid Brezhnev that development of biological weapons was necessary. A prominent supporter
was identified by some authors in General-Polkovnik Taras Chepura, who stressed the importance of disguised
research.
[1]
The research at Biopreparat constituted a blatant violation by the Soviet Union of the terms of the
Biological Weapons Convention of 1972 which outlawed biological weapons. Its existence was steadfastly denied by
Soviet officials for decades.
Exposure of Biopreparat in the West
In April 1979, a major outbreak of pulmonary anthrax in the city of Sverdlovsk (now Yekaterinburg) caused the
deaths of 105 or more Soviet citizens. The Soviets tried to hush things up, but details leaked out to the West in 1980
when the German newspaper Bild Zeitung carried a story about the accident. Moscow described allegations that the
epidemic was an accident at a BW facility as "slanderous propaganda" and insisted the anthrax outbreak had been
caused by contaminated food.
The first senior Soviet bioweaponeer to defect to the West was Vladimir Pasechnik (19372001) who alerted
Western intelligence in 1989 to the vast scope of Moscow's clandestine program. British Prime Minister Margaret
Thatcher and U.S. President George H. W. Bush put pressure on Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev to open up
Russia's germ warfare facilities to a team of outside inspectors. When the inspectors toured four of the sites in 1991,
they were met with denials and evasions. Production tanks which had obviously been intended for making enormous
quantities of something were clean and sterile; laboratories had been stripped of equipment.
Pasechnik's revelations that the program was 10 times greater than previously suspected were confirmed in 1992
with the defection to the United States of Colonel Kanatjan Alibekov (b. 1950), the No. 2 scientist for the program.
Alibekov (now known as Ken Alibek) had been the First Deputy Director of Biopreparat from 1988 to 1992. He
claimed that development of new strains of genetically engineered superweapons was still continuing.
Alibek later wrote the book Biohazard (1999) detailing publicly his extensive inside knowledge of the structure,
goals, operations and achievements of Biopreparat. He was also featured in the October 13, 1998 episode of
Frontline (PBS TV series).
Biopreparat
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1990s
The Biopreparat complex suffered with the collapse of the Soviet Union. Since then several large bioweapons
production lines have been officially closed. Its current state is unknown, however it is likely that Biopreparat and
successor entities continued bioweapons research and development at least through the 1990s.
[]
Operations
Biopreparat was a system of 18, nominally civilian, research laboratories and centers scattered chiefly around
European Russia, in which a small army of scientists and technicians developed biological weapons such as anthrax,
Ebola, Marburg virus, plague, Q fever, Junin virus, glanders, and smallpox. It was the largest producer of
weaponized anthrax in the Soviet Union and was a leader in the development of new bioweapons technologies.
Biopreparat facilities
The project had 18 major labs and production centers:
Stepnagorsk Scientific and Technical Institute for Microbiology, Stepnogorsk, northern Kazakhstan
Institute of Ultra Pure Biochemical Preparations, Leningrad, a weaponized plague center
Vector State Research Center of Virology and Biotechnology (VECTOR), a weaponized smallpox center
Institute of Engineering Immunology, Lyubuchany
Institute of Applied Biochemistry, Omutninsk
Kirov bioweapons production facility, Kirov, Kirov Oblast
Zagorsk smallpox production facility, Zagorsk
Berdsk bioweapons production facility, Berdsk
Sverdlovsk bioweapons production facility (Military Compound 19), Sverdlovsk, a weaponized anthrax center
Vozrozhdeniya Island bioweapons testing site, Aral Sea
Kazakh Science Center for the Quarantine of Zoonotic Diseases, Almaty: contains plague, anthrax, tularemia;
facilities are to be replaced by the more modern Central Reference Laboratory in collaboration with the US
Defense Threat Reduction Agency.
This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it
[2]
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Biopreparat pathogens
Pathogens that were successfully weaponized by the organization included (in order of completion):
Smallpox
Bubonic plague
Anthrax
Venezuelan equine encephalitis
Tularemia
Influenza
Brucellosis
Marburg virus (believed to be under development as of 1992)
Ebola (believed to be under development as of 1992)
Machupo virus (believed to be under development as of 1992)
Veepox (hybrid of Venezuelan equine encephalitis with smallpox)Wikipedia:Citation needed
Ebolapox (hybrid of ebola with smallpox)Wikipedia:Citation needed
Annual production capacities for many of the above listed pathogens were in the tens of tons, typically with
redundant production facilities located throughout the Soviet Union.
Biopreparat
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References
[1] [1] Reese, Roger R. , Red Commanders: A Social History of the Soviet Army Officer Corps, 1918-1991, University Press of Kansas 2005. P. 263
[2] http:/ / en. wikipedia. org/ w/ index. php?title=Biopreparat& action=edit
External links
http:/ / www. pbs. org/ wgbh/ pages/ frontline/ shows/ plague/
http:/ / www. the-scientist. com/ article/ display/ 11813/
Information about Biopreparat from FAS (http:/ / www. fas. org/ nuke/ guide/ russia/ agency/ bw. htm)
MIT Technology Review article featuring a lecture by Dr. Serguei Popov, a former Biopreparat researcher
working on recombinant DNA techniques for developing novel biological weapons (http:/ / www.
technologyreview. com/ BioTech/ wtr_16485,306,p1. html)
Article from James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies report: "FORMER SOVIET BIOLOGICAL
WEAPONS FACILITIES IN KAZAKHSTAN: PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE". Also describes Biopreparat
in some detail. (http:/ / cns. miis. edu/ pubs/ opapers/ op1/ op1. htm)
Article Sources and Contributors
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Article Sources and Contributors
Biopreparat Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=617934869 Contributors: Abune, Beowabbit, Bice, Bsktcase, Dogwood123, Dysprosia, EagleFan, Eloquence, Evleos, Fortdj33,
Gzornenplatz, Harizotoh9, Hodja Nasreddin, John, Jpatokal, Kelly Martin, Kolindigo, Mav, Megan1967, Meodipt, Minesweeper, Mirror Vax, Mormegil, Newbi, Rhys, Richard Arthur Norton
(1958- ), RickK, Rjwilmsi, THB, Tec15, Valerius Tygart, Vlazav, Wavelength, Wik, Wingman4l7, Woohookitty, 72 anonymous edits
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