The Soviet Union’s Agricultural Biowarfare Programme: Ploughshares to Swords

251 Pages·2021·5.417 MB·English

by  Anthony Rimmington

The Soviet Union’s
Agricultural Biowarfare
Programme
Ploughshares to Swords
Anthony Rimmington
The Soviet Union’s Agricultural Biowarfare
Programme
Anthony Rimmington
The Soviet Union’s
Agricultural
Biowarfare
Programme
Ploughshares to Swords
Anthony Rimmington
Birmingham, UK
ISBN 978-3-030-73842-6 ISBN 978-3-030-73843-3 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-73843-3
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A
cknowledgements
A great debt of gratitude is owed by the author to the men and women
employed within the USSR Ministry of Agriculture’s secret biological
warfare network. In the transformed reality which resulted from the col-
lapse of the Soviet Union, many came to realise that they were no longer
bound by their bonds of loyalty and allegiance to a system which had
imploded and disappeared, never to return. Chief among those who wres-
tled with their conscience, and the highest-level and most important
source for the present work, is the now-deceased Tsyren Tsybekzhapovich
Khanduev. This impressive individual was representative of some of the
more positive aspects of the Soviet system, especially that associated with
social mobility. Khanduev was born on 17 August 1918 in Buryatia, the
son of a cattle breeder. From these humble origins his career followed an
astonishing trajectory, with him eventually serving as a colonel in the
USSR Ministry of Defence’s Scientific-Research Sanitary Institute (67-i
km settlement, Sergiev Posad)—the Soviet Union’s lead virology BW cen-
tre—then being transferred to a major anti-livestock institute in Gvardeiskii,
Kazakhstan, before finishing his career as an Academician within the
National Academy of Sciences of Kyrgyzstan. Khanduev spent many long,
highly emotional hours, considering whether, in the wake of the collapse
of the Soviet Union, his oath of loyalty prevented him from telling the
extraordinary story of the agricultural biowarfare programme pursued by
the USSR Ministry of Agriculture. It is thanks to his courageous decision
to write his memoirs that we are provided with a fascinating insight and
knowledge of this highly secretive Soviet endeavour.
v
vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Another individual who made a significant contribution to this project
is Stephen Mylrea Asbridge (1952–2015). Lacking any formal scientific
background, he had a most detailed knowledge of fermentation technol-
ogy, working for many decades in this branch of the UK’s bioindustry. His
main contribution to this work, however, centres on the wide network of
contacts he had developed within the life sciences industry in the former
Soviet Union. He was greatly loved and respected by an array of senior
researchers and directors based in Moscow and many other cities across
the USSR. In the chaos and disorder following the collapse of the Soviet
Union, it was only through these highly personal channels of communica-
tion that it was possible to schedule interviews and for former weapons
scientists to be able to talk openly about their work.
Two other key individuals should be thanked for their critical contribu-
tion to the present work: Dr David Stead and Dr Robert Bolton, both
formerly attached to the Central Science Laboratory (York) were fine trav-
elling companions on several adventures across the post-Soviet space.
Their expert knowledge provided fascinating insight into the programmes
which had been pursued by the USSR Ministry of Agriculture. In addi-
tion, David’s fine singing voice was capable of transforming an ordinary
social occasion into an extraordinary one.
Alex Donaldson and Richard Strange very kindly read and commented
on the manuscript as it was being finally prepared. Their contributions
have greatly improved the quality of the book. Grateful thanks are also
extended to the anonymous reviewer for Palgrave Macmillan.
Finally, a special and very personal thank you is also offered to Dr
Edward Arfon Rees (1949–2019), late of the Centre for Russian, European
and Eurasian Studies (CREES) at the University of Birmingham. He was
a most brilliant historian of the Soviet Union, as is evidenced by an array
of superlative publications, who provided myself and very many others,
with a deep insight into this fascinating period of history. He shall be most
remembered by me as a very dear colleague whose enthusiasm, infectious
humour and love of life brightened up many a dull day in the Russian
Centre at Birmingham.
c
ontents
1 Introduction 1
2 Origins: The International Race to Develop Anti-crop and
Anti-livestock Biological Weapons 13
The Initial Soviet Post-War Anti-crop Biological Warfare
Programme 22
The Trigger: The US Offensive Biological Warfare Programme
Targeting the Soviet Union 24
3 Codename Ekologiya: Khrushchev and the Launch of the
Soviet Union’s Large- Scale Agricultural Biowarfare
Programme 33
The Generals in Charge: Military Oversight of the Ekologiya
Programme 36
First Steps: Pursuit of the Ekologiya Programme at the Palace on
the Znamenskoe-Sadki Estate 40
The Concentration of Veterinary BW Facilities in the Vladimir
Region 52
The Gvardeiskii Experimental Proving Ground: Biological
Warfare on the Kazakh Steppe 55
An Invisible Network: Visiting Western Plant Pathology and
Veterinary Specialists Are Unaware of the Existence of the New
Agricultural BW Facilities 60
vii
viii CONTENTS
Numbers Employed in the Ministry of Agriculture’s BW
Programme 62
The Targeting of China by the Ekologiya Programme? 63
4 From Estonia to Sakhalin Island: The Expansion of the
USSR Ministry of Agriculture’s Toxic Archipelago in the
1970s and 1980s 79
The Interdepartmental Council and the New Focus on
Molecular Biology 79
The Development of Linkages to the USSR Ministry of Defence,
Biopreparat and Other Branches of the Soviet BW Programme 82
The Expansion of the Ekologiya Programme and the Opening of
New Facilities in Estonia, Armenia and Tajikistan 84
Harnessing Virulent Plant Pathogens from the Soviet Network of
Monitoring Stations and Plant Breeding Facilities 91
Africa as a Source of Novel Pathogens? The International
Dimensions of the Ekologiya Programme 92
The Emergence of the New Scientific Leadership of the Soviet
Anti-crop BW Programme 94
The Maintenance of a Strict Regime of Secrecy Within the
GUNIiEPU Network: Security Measures in Place at Ekologiya
Facilities in Uzbekistan and Georgia 96
The Launch of the Flora Programme and the Development of
Tactical Herbicides for the Military 100
Alibek’s Account of the Early Termination of GUNIiEPU’s BW
Programme 101
5 Heart of Darkness: The Creation of Reserve Mobilisation
Capacity for Production of Viral Agents 109
The Soviet System of Mobilisation Preparedness 109
The Creation of Reserve Mobilisation Production Facilities for
Anti-agricultural Agents 110
BW Mobilisation Capacity at the Pokrov Biologics Plant 112
Identification of Mobilisation Capacity at Pokrov by Western
Visitors 115
The Nature of Activity at Pokrov: Linkages to an Alleged
Soviet Variola Virus Programme 117
Delivery Systems for Weaponised Agricultural BW Agents 119
CONTENTS ix
6 Through a Glass Darkly: Analysis of the Soviet Union’s
Military Agricultural R&D Programmes 125
Western Intelligence Assessments of the Soviet Agricultural
Biowarfare Programme 125
Central Asia’s “Sverdlovsk Incident”? The Rinderpest (Cattle
Plague) Programme and the First Major Disease Outbreak
from an Ekologiya Laboratory 127
The Pursuit of FMD Research Programmes by VNIYaI 133
Construction of FMD Vaccine Facilities by the Soviet Union 134
VNIIVViM’s Focus on Anthrax 136
R&D Programmes in Vol’ginskii and Gvardeiskii Focused on
African Swine Fever (ASF) and African Horse Sickness (AHS) 138
Sheeppox, Goatpox and Fowlpox Viruses 139
R&D Programmes Conducted by Soviet Anti-crop BW Facilities:
Rice Blast (Magnaporthe grisea) and Rice Bacteriosis
(Xanthomonas oryzae) 140
Late Blight of Potatoes (Phytophthora infestans) 141
Diseases of Cereal Crops 144
The Use of Insects to Transmit Plant Pathogens 145
Offence or Defence? The Conflicting Narratives with Regard to
the Ekologiya Programme 146
7 From Military to Agro-industrial Complex: The Legacy of
the Agricultural BW Programme in the Post-Soviet States 155
The Collapse of the USSR and the Evacuation of Weapons
Scientists to the Russian Federation 155
The Transfer to Civil Control of Russia’s Anti-crop and Anti-
livestock Facilities 157
Iran and the Proliferation Threat Arising in the Wake of the
Collapse of the Soviet Union 160
From Isolated Cold War Outpost to National Lead- Edge Plant
Pathology Research Centre: The “Rediscovery” of Georgia’s
Soviet-Era Time Capsule 166
The Role of Kobuleti in Soviet Military Programmes 170
The UK Ministry of Defence Counters the Critical Proliferation
Threat in Kobuleti: The Launch of the Pilot Biological
Redirection Project 174
x CONTENTS
The Yerevan Branch of VNIYaI Emerges as the Main Research
Hub of the Armenian Veterinary Sector 177
The Fate of Kazakhstan’s Agricultural Biowarfare Facilities 178
The Use of Former Soviet Weapons Scientists in the War Against
Drugs 182
8 Conclusion 199
Characteristics of the Ekologiya BW Programme 199
Soviet Rationale for the Launch of the Ekologiya Programme 201
The Achievements of the Soviet Agricultural BW Programme 204
Ekologiya’s Legacy 205
Appendix A: Soviet/Russian Abbreviations and Acronyms 209
Appendix B: Composition of the Scientific and Technical
Council (NTS) and Interbranch Scientific and Technical
Council for Molecular Biology and Genetics (MNTS) 215
Appendix C: Lead Scientists in the Ekologiya Programme 217
Index 225