Putin takes jab at America as aggressive nation

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday joined the growing chorus of nations critical of the U.S. buildup against Iraq, saying that the growth in aggressiveness of some countries had broken the geopolitical balance in the world.

Putin's remarks to a gathering of senior military officers ahead of a major armed forces holiday in Russia came just one day after his foreign minister accused Britain and the United States of trying to pressure international weapons inspectors to provide a pretext to launch a war against Iraq.

Russian criticism of the way President George W. Bush is handling the Iraq crisis has increased in recent weeks, although senior U.S. diplomats and some U.S. politicians believe that Moscow in the end will not oppose Washington in its drive to force Saddam Hussein to give up its weapons of mass destruction.

The geopolitical situation in the world is "very complex," Putin was quoted by the Interfax news agency as telling officers at a Kremlin ceremony ahead of Defender of the Fatherland Day, the former Soviet Army Day, which is celebrated Sunday.

"The balance of force in all evidence has been violated. The new security architecture has not yet been created," Putin said. "But we cannot but notice the growth in aggressiveness in very influential forces in some countries of the world, which together with the lowering of the effectiveness of institutions to maintain global security and solve conflicts causes concern."

Putin did not name the United States and Britain in his remarks, but it was clear from the context which countries were the target of his accusations. Putin essentially repeated Russia's long-standing resentment of U.S. dominance, but the tone was blunt.

The Russian leader has been seesawing between Washington and Britain on the one hand and France and Germany, which are leading the drive to prevent a war in Iraq, on the other. Putin wants good relations on both sides of the Atlantic, but Russian analysts have stressed that he would be loathe to see a rift in his relations with Bush.

And the pot calls the kettle black:

1959. Iraq's nuclear program was established under the Iraqi Atomic Energy Commission. Under a nuclear co-operation agreement signed with the Soviet Union in 1959, a nuclear research center, equipped with a research reactor, was built at Tuwaitha, the main Iraqi nuclear research center. The research reactor worked up to 1991. The surge in Iraqi oil revenues in the early 1970s supported an expansion of the research program. This was bolstered in the mid-1970s by the acquisition of two research reactors powered by highly enriched uranium fuel and equipment for fuel fabrication and handling. By the end of 1984 Iraq was self-sufficient in uranium ore. One of the reactors was destroyed in an Israeli air attack in June 1981 shortly before it was to become operational; the other was never completed.

1973. The Soviet Union establishes Biopreparat, which would become the hub of Moscow’s germ warfare effort. At it’s peak in the 80’s it will employ over 30,000 scientists and technicians at more than 100 facilities across the Soviet Union. Secretly run by the military, it would command annual budgets approaching 1 billion dollars. During its life it would study over 80 different agents and weaponize over a dozen of them, including: Tularemia, various strains of Anthrax, Venezuelan equine encephalitis, Botulinum, Bubonic Plague, Smallpox, Glanders, and Marburg (a virus similar to Ebola which cause hemoragic fever).

1976. The Soviets establish a new germ warfare facility in Siberia known as “Vector”. The largest and most sophisticated facility of its kind ever built, it’s primary purpose is to research viruses for possible weaponization. A large part of its research has to do with using recombinant DNA techniques to produce ultra-deadly “superbugs” impervious to known defensive measures. Research includes germs designed to seize control of the human metabolism, causing the body to self-destruct, and splicing the gene that makes Diphtheria toxin into Plague bacteria, which devastates animal test subjects.

1978-1990. Soviet union sells Iraq (33) Il-76M/Candid-B Transport/tanker aircraft; (37) Mi-17/Hip-H Helicopters; (12) Mi-24D/Mi-25/Hind-D Combat helicopters; (30) Mi-8TV/Hip-F Helicopter; (61) MiG-21bis/Fishbed-N Fighter aircraft; (50) MiG-23BN/Flogger-H FGA aircraft; (30) MiG-25P/Foxbat-A Fighter aircraft; (8) MiG-25RB/Foxbat-B Reconnaissance; (41) MiG-29/Fulcrum-A Fighter aircraft; (46) Su-22/Fitter-H/J/K FGA aircraft; (25) Su-24MK/Fencer-D Bomber aircraft; (84) Su-25/Frogfoot-A Ground attack aircraft; (180) 2A36 152mm Towed guns; (100) 2S1 122mm Self-propelled guns; (100) 2S3 152mm Self-propelled guns; (10) 2S4 240mm Self-propelled mortars; (560) BM-21 122mm MRL; (576) D-30 122mm Towed guns; (576) M-46 130mm Towed guns; (10) SS-1 Scud/9P117M SSM launchers; (100) BRDM-2 Sagger-equipped tank destroyers; (200) PT-76 Light tanks; (60) SA-13/9K35 Strela-10 self-propelled AA systems; (160) SA-9/9P31 self-propelled AA systems; (2,150) T-62 Main battle tanks; (25) SA-6a/2K12 Kvadrat SAM systems; (80) SA-8b/9K33M Osa-AK Mobile SAM systems; (960) SA-13 Gopher/9M37 SAM’s; (100) SA-14 Gremlin/Strela-3 Portable SAM; (250) SA-16 Gimlet/Igla-1 Portable SAM’s; (840) SA-6a Gainful/3M9 SAM’s; (6,500) SA-7 Grail/Strela-2 Portable SAM’s; (1,290) SA-8b Gecko/9M33M SAM’s; (1,920) SA-9 Gaskin/9M31 SAM’s; (800) SS-1c Scud-B/R-17 SSM’s; (40) SS-1c Scud-B/R-17 SSM’s.

1979, December. Soviets invade Afghanistan. Before the war, the Afghan population is estimated to have been somewhat more than fifteen million people. Over five million (a third of the country), became refugees, mostly in Pakistan and Iran; the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees called this ``migratory genocide.'' Millions more became refugees within the country, swelling the population of Kabul. Another million people are killed, either in fighting, or in massacres by Soviet troops, or by sheer starvation. Land-mines are effectively employed to make much of the countryside uninhabitable; also to make tens of thousands of people cripples. In a display of really macabre ingenuity, the Soviets take to scattering brightly-colored plastic toys, which explode when picked up by children. There is considerable evidence that, at least in some districts, the Soviets engage in deliberate campaigns of extermination, and make use of chemical weapons.

1988. Gorbachev orders scientists at Sverdlosk to dispose of the tons of Anthrax it has stored at Zima, near Irkutsk. It is presumed that, in light of his policies of glastnost and perestroika, he nervous that Britain or the U.S. may demand to inspect the facility, revealing Soviet breaches of the 1972 Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention. The Anthrax is taken to the Vozrozhdeniye island test range in Kazakhstan where it is soaked in bleach and buried.
While working at the Vector facility in Siberia, scientist Nikolai Ustinov accidentally infects himself with the Marburg virus while trying to perfect it as a weapon. Marburg, like Ebola, causes hemoragic fever. Ustinov dies, but his colleagues harvest the virus from his body and discover that it has mutated into a more virulent form which they designate “Variant U.”

1989, October. A top Soviet biologist, Vladimir Pasechnik defects to Britain. He reveals that the Soviet Union’s bio-weapons warfare program is far larger than anyone suspected, employing as many as 30,000 scientists and specialists--figures later confirmed by other defectors. Pasechnik claims the Soviets have developed long-range missiles to deliver germs as well as nukes.
Before defecting, he had been the director of the Institute for Ultra-Pure Biological Preparations in Leningrad, one of many Soviet front organizations. His instutue had employed some 400 scientists doing research in modifying cruise-missles to spread germs. Pasechnik also claims that the Soviets are engaged in the genetic engineering of super bio-weapons, including a "Super" Plague virus.

1997. Andrew Weber, a U.S. diplomat involved in arranging inspections and scientific exchanges between Russia and the U.S., talks to two scientists from the Oblensk State Research Center of Applied Microbiology while visiting Moscow. He is told that a delegation of Iranians had recently visited the Oblensk and and Vector facilitie as well as others. The Iranians were on a recruiting mission, offering $5,000 per month salaries to Russian microbiologist willing to come to work in Iran. Similar delegations from Iraq, Libya and North Korea have visited Russia. Several Russian scientists are known to have accepted these offers. The exact number is not known, but the whereabouts of many former Biopreparat employees is unknown.

Bio-Chemical Weapons & Saddam: A History.

And lets not forget that theater in Moscow....

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.