Soviet Germ Factories Pose New Threat

The Washington Post ^ | August 20, 2005 | Joby Warrick

[neverdem]

Once Mined for Pathogens in Bioweapons Program, Labs Lack Security

ODESSA, Ukraine -- For 50 years under Soviet rule, nearly everything about the Odessa Antiplague Station was a state secret, down to the names of the deadly microbes its white-coated workers collected and stored in a pair of ordinary freezers.

Cloistered in a squat, gray building at the tip of a rusting shipping dock, the station's biologists churned out reports on grave illnesses that were mentioned only in code. Anthrax was Disease No. 123, and plague, which killed thousands here in the 19th century, was No. 127. Each year, researchers added new specimens to their frozen collection and shared test results with sister institutes along a network controlled by Moscow.

Today, the Soviets are gone but the lab is still here, in this Black Sea port notorious for its criminal gangs and black markets. It is just one of more than 80 similar "antiplague" labs scattered across the former Soviet Union, from the turbulent Caucasus to Central Asian republics that share borders with Iran and Afghanistan. Each is a repository of knowledge, equipment and lethal pathogens that weapons experts have said could be useful to bioterrorists.

After decades of operating in the shadows, the labs are beginning to shed light on another secret: How the Soviet military co-opted obscure civilian institutes into a powerful biological warfare program that built weapons for spreading plague and anthrax spores. As they ramped up preparations for germ warfare in the 1970s and 1980s, Soviet generals mined the labs for raw materials, including highly lethal strains of viruses and bacteria that were intended for use in bombs and missiles.

The facilities' hidden role is described in a draft report of a major investigation by scholars from the Center for Nonproliferation Studies at the Monterey Institute...

[msf92497]

New since when?

[endthematrix]

The story last year was the Soviet nuclear experiments. They placed radioactive containers in wheat field across the county and tested the radiation levels. they just left the containers and some were found in farm houses just sitting there. All this was to study contamination to the food supply during a nuclear war. The government forgot to clean up...standard USSR practice.

[neverdem]

New since when?

Why make any comments before you have the chance to read the whole story? You're as bad as the admin mods who yanked it from the frontpage sidebar already. It was three long pages.

[neverdem]

In 1969, President Richard M. Nixon unilaterally halted U.S. production of biological weapons. Three years later, the Soviet Union joined the United States and other nations in signing the Biological Weapons Convention, outlawing biological weapons. Within the next two years, the Soviets secretly began to build a massive offensive weapons program. Much of it was hidden inside a sprawling civilian-run enterprise called Biopreparat, which put tens of thousands of scientists to work on bioweapons projects disguised as pharmaceutical research.

Trust, but verify. Thank you for words of wisdom, Ronnie.

FWIW, this was on WaPo's front page.

From time to time, I’ll ping on noteworthy articles about politics, foreign and military affairs. FReepmail me if you want on or off my list.

[smoothsailing]

It's just a matter of time.

[msf92497]

Yikes. Sorry.

Hmmmmm.

I have been believing the Soviet germ-warfare threat never did lessen, much less cease.

PS- I've got my own opinions about the sidebarmodz.

[JudgemAll]

How the Soviet military co-opted obscure civilian institutes into a powerful biological warfare program that built weapons for spreading plague and anthrax spores.
-----
They still do coopt our aid against terror and WMD spread into their weapons programs.

[genefromjersey]

Incredible ! The Post believes the Russians "co-opted" peaceful labs ?

If you read Biohazard by Alibek,or summaries by other defectors,it is crystal clear the facilities were built and staffed for the PRIMARY purpose of developing and producing bioweapons.

The "peaceful uses" stuff was added on after a few defectors blew the whistle-and, after the Union collapsed,one or two of them were actually converted to such use.

Here's a link to one summary:

http://www.au.af.mil/au/awc/awcgate/cpc-pubs/biostorm/ainscough.doc

[genefromjersey]

Incredible ! The Post believes the Russians "co-opted" peaceful labs ?

If you read Biohazard by Alibek,or summaries by other defectors,it is crystal clear the facilities were built and staffed for the PRIMARY purpose of developing and producing bioweapons.

The "peaceful uses" stuff was added on after a few defectors blew the whistle-and, after the Union collapsed,one or two of them were actually converted to such use.

Here's a link to one summary:

http://www.au.af.mil/au/awc/awcgate/cpc-pubs/biostorm/ainscough.doc

[Alamo-Girl]

Thanks for the ping!

[jwpjr]

If this were one of those good ol' fashioned 1950's sci-fi movies this would be where the ship would sweep in from outer space and deliver an ultimatum to the inhabitants of Earth, "Rid yourselves of offensive weapons or we'll be obliged to do it for you!" Ah, how I long for the good old days. The bad guys wore black the good guys wore white and you didn't have to fret about paying strict attention to the plot. Besides, you already knew who was going to win in the end.

I would like to see a remake of one of those old sci-fi scenes where the alien delivers his (it was always a 'he') ultimatum and then turns to reenter his space ship but just before the door closes he turns to the camera and says with an all-knowing smile "By the way, the foam-insulated fuel tanks and heat-shield tiles..... They are SO 20th century!"

Blast off.