Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Experts: Valium Gas Used in Raid
A.P. Via ABCNEWS ^ | 10/26/02 | Staff

Posted on 10/26/2002 8:48:33 PM PDT by Looking for Diogenes

Experts: Valium Gas Used in Raid
Military Experts, Toxicologists Suspect Valium Gas Used in Russian Troops' Theater Raid

Oct. 26

Military experts and toxicologists say Russian commandos probably pumped a gas containing Valium into a Moscow theater to subtly disable and disorient heavily armed Chechen rebels prior to Saturday's dramatic assault.

Russian authorities didn't identify the gas used in the operation, which freed hundreds of hostages but also resulted in the deaths of more than 100 captives and rebels. Officials claimed none of the hostages were killed by the gas.

Several nations, including the United States, have developed a variety of non-lethal incapacitating agents, which can also induce choking, nausea or blurry vision, depending on their recipes.

According to some hostages inside the theater, they realized they were becoming sleepy and confused, but no one reported seeing a vapor cloud, smelling a chemical or experiencing the sort of irritating symptoms associated with tear gas and pepper spray.

Experts said the Russians may have released a gas concentration of a powerful sedative like Valium or may have used a form of BZ gas, a hallucinogenic drug widely researched in the 1960s that works more slowly.

"The thing that pops into my mind is aerosolized Valium," said Dr. Christopher Holstege, medical toxicology director at the University of Virginia. "But there isn't much literature out there on it. There is talk of using it as a riot control agent."

Others said the agent used by the Russians didn't seem to be like anything that has been part of the U.S. arsenal.

"It's no surprise that the Russians have that kind of stuff," said Ron Madrid, a former Marine and an expert on non-lethal weaponry at Pennsylvania State University. "They spent 30 years putting it together. We're prevented from doing that by treaty and executive order."

Russian television reported the gas was dispersed through the theater's ventilation system. Workers were seen digging around sewers and steam pipes near the theater in the first day of the crisis.

One Interfax News Agency employee among the captives in the theater said the rebels appeared ready to kill all the hostages, "then something happened."

"I lost consciousness and woke up in the emergency room," said Olga Chernyak. "It must have been some special gas."

Outside City Hospital No. 13, Galina Dolotova said her 32-year-old daughter, Olga, appeared to have been one of the hostages least affected by the gas, but even at that "she was in terrible shape" when she was brought in.

Holstege said people exposed to aerosolized Valium would feel sleepy and confused. At sufficiently high levels, it could compromise breathing and oxygen supply to vital organs.

"It sedates you, so you would feel hung over," Holstege said "People don't remember events well afterward. If it was administered in a theater full of people with guns and explosives, it might confuse them as to what was going on so they could not shoot."

Experts also mentioned BZ, or 3-quinuclidinyl benzilate, as a possibility for the gas used by the Russians.

BZ was a research focus of the U.S. Army during the Cold War at the former Edgewood Area labs near Washington. It belongs to a class of drugs known as anticholinergics that interrupt the brain's chemical messaging system between cells, leading to confusion and hallucinations. It needs an hour to take effect, so authorities would've had to release it into the theater long before the actual assault.

BZ also produces a tendency to fall asleep, and government reports show that soldiers in its U.S. development program nicknamed it the "sleeping agent." The delirium it induces can last two or three days.

"The Russians could've used BZ in the theater, but perhaps in higher concentrations," Holstege said.

A recent U.S. Air Force paper on nonlethal weapons said "calmative" agents reportedly were used by Soviet troops against Afghan guerrillas during their 1980-89 war.

The American and British militaries have discussed developing calmative weapons that would incapacitate or repel people. The effort intensified in the 1990s after hostile mobs confronted U.S. troops during peacekeeping and humanitarian missions in places like Somalia, Bosnia and Haiti.

In 2000, researchers at a Pentagon-funded institute at Penn State prepared a 50-page report that said developing calmative weapons "is achievable and desirable" and suggested drugs like Valium for further research.

However, it is unclear whether such weapons would violate the convention banning the use of chemical weapons, officials said.


photo credit and caption:

Special forces officers enter the theater, where hundreds of hostages were being held by Chechen rebels, Moscow, early Saturday, Oct. 26, 2002, while unidentified people leave the building. Special forces troops took control of a Moscow theater before sunrise Saturday where hundreds of hostages were being held by Chechen rebels, killing their leader and freeing all their captives. (AP Photo/Dmitry Lovetsky)



TOPICS: Extended News; Foreign Affairs; Russia
KEYWORDS: chechens; chechnya; gas; moscow; raid; terrorists; theatresiege; valium; wacohorror
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-45 next last

1 posted on 10/26/2002 8:48:34 PM PDT by Looking for Diogenes
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: Looking for Diogenes
Cool!
2 posted on 10/26/2002 8:50:42 PM PDT by July 4th
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Looking for Diogenes
Interesting. I had no idea there was such a thing. Of course, if it was something else, I suppose we will discover what it was on some battlefield someday.
3 posted on 10/26/2002 8:53:13 PM PDT by templar
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Looking for Diogenes
Valium Gas Used in Raid

Putin's little helpers?

4 posted on 10/26/2002 8:53:51 PM PDT by Between the Lines
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Looking for Diogenes
Apologies for the squished formatting.

This thread was posted on 6/12/02:
US plan to strike enemy with Valium

5 posted on 10/26/2002 8:54:03 PM PDT by Looking for Diogenes
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Looking for Diogenes
Why couldn't we use this against any future highjackers, should we have a repeat performance? Supplying the pilots with O2 masks and a steel door to keep the bad guys out of the cockpit of course.

MKM

6 posted on 10/26/2002 8:58:09 PM PDT by mykdsmom
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

Comment #7 Removed by Moderator

To: Looking for Diogenes
valium gas what a cool idea valium is absorbed rapidly in the lungs of course if you inhale to much you may just go to sleep and forget to breathe
8 posted on 10/26/2002 9:00:12 PM PDT by TheRedSoxWinThePennant
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Looking for Diogenes
Nothing that the Russians do surprises me. Actually, if it is Valium gas, that is probably the least harmful of the gases that they have. Earlier, I heard it was nerve gas. I still do not trust the "old guard" Russians. In fact, I think their stand against U.S. taking action in Iraq is mainly because they do not want us to see all the "evil" gases, weapons, etc. that they have provided Saddam.
9 posted on 10/26/2002 9:02:23 PM PDT by whadizit
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: mykdsmom
I'm sure the authorities are thinking of the same thing. The fact that it apparently killed 5-10% of the hostages may be discouraging, but this technique is in its infancy.

I guess oxygen tanks will become standard for well-equipped invasion kidnappers.

10 posted on 10/26/2002 9:03:03 PM PDT by Looking for Diogenes
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: Between the Lines
"'Things are different today', I hear every mother say."
11 posted on 10/26/2002 9:06:42 PM PDT by BenLurkin
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: Looking for Diogenes
 "They spent 30 years putting it together. We're prevented from
 doing that by treaty and executive order."

Yeah, it's honorable going through history with
one hand tied behind your back.  It'll also get
you killed when fighting martyr-prone enemies
with no scruples.  We'll learn eventually.

12 posted on 10/26/2002 9:10:29 PM PDT by gcruse
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Looking for Diogenes; *WacoHorror
BZ was a research focus of the U.S. Army during the Cold War at the former Edgewood Area labs near Washington.

This admission damns the FBI at Waco: They could have sedated all the Branch Davidians and gone in to arrest them. But the fact that they went in with tanks and tear gas indicates they intended all along to kill the Davidians, not rescue them. There were specops troops there, they would have known about sleeping gas.

13 posted on 10/26/2002 9:19:31 PM PDT by coloradan
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: mykdsmom
I actually knew someone who suggested to FAA in the mid-80s about keeping this type of gas in aircraft to counter terrorist threats and FAA came back and said that this was not a safe solution. A leak in the masks and the pilots would bring down the aircraft by accident. But if the pilot put the plane on auto-pilot and then hit the gas button...failsafe operation of course...then this would likely work. The question is how long is this gas effective?
14 posted on 10/26/2002 9:20:05 PM PDT by pepsionice
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: TheRedSoxWinThePennant
if you inhale to much you may just go to sleep and forget to breathe

Yep. With every little breath, you're getting another little dose. Eventually, you overdose and die. I would think it would be critical to ventilate the place or get the hostages out of there ASAP after the bad guys have been neutralized.

15 posted on 10/26/2002 9:22:45 PM PDT by LibWhacker
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: Looking for Diogenes
I have a friend (ex-OSS(!)) who says that it was well-known that the Russians had several such agents. One he called 'silver dust'. He said it could be spread in a room (presumably by some sort of 'grenade'?) and "everybody would go down like a stone" (i.e., knocked out). "Most of them could be revived," he also told me. Hmm. Not all, just most.

When I asked him if the U.S. had something similar, he clammed up.

--Boris

16 posted on 10/26/2002 10:34:58 PM PDT by boris
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Conservative_Dr.Pepper_Drinker
It is my belief that the agent used was 3-Quinuclidinyl benzilate (BZ) (now called QNB) developed during the Cold War.

The chemical warfare agent 3-quinuclidinyl benzilate (QNB, BZ) is an anticholinergic agent that affects both the peripheral and central nervous systems (CNS). It is one of the most potent anticholinergic psychomimetics known, with only small doses necessary to produce incapacitation. It is classified as a hallucinogenic chemical warfare agent. QNB usually is disseminated as an aerosol, and the primary route of absorption is through the respiratory system. Absorption also can occur through the skin or gastrointestinal tract. It is odorless. QNB's pharmacologic activity is similar to other anticholinergic drugs (eg, atropine) but with a much longer duration of action.

17 posted on 10/26/2002 10:38:19 PM PDT by seeker41
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: coloradan
intended all along to kill the Davidians, not rescue them

Yes, I'm sure everyone would have thought it was perfectly acceptable if the Clinton/Reno FBI had used chemical weapons that are illegal for military use against unarmed babies. </sarcasm>
18 posted on 10/26/2002 10:51:59 PM PDT by SicTransitGloriaMundi
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 13 | View Replies]

To: gcruse
The one good thing you can say about countries other than the US is the lack of lawyers. Imaging the US doing something like this, and killing some hostages.

Lawyers would be living off the lawsuits for years.
19 posted on 10/26/2002 11:32:09 PM PDT by cryptical
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]

To: LibWhacker
If a true Benzodiazapam type drug were used the lethal dose would be huge. I suspect no one died from the gas. The special ops personell could have premedicated themselves with an agent that blocks the action of Benzodiazpams (we use this agent in the hospital for overdoses) and thus been able to fight in the enviroment with no need of breathing apparatus.

The Russian Special Ops forces deserve our congratulations. They sent the terrorists on a one way ticket to hell and saved several times the number of hostages than were killed by the terrorists.
20 posted on 10/27/2002 12:31:10 AM PDT by cpdiii
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 15 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-45 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson