This book focuses on Biopreparat, the Soviet agency created in 1974, which spearheaded the largest and most sophisticated biological warfare programme the world has ever seen. At its height, Biopreparat employed more than 30,000 personnel and incorporated an enormous network embracing military-focused research institutes, design centres, biowarfare pilot facilities and dual-use production plants. The secret network pursued major offensive R&D programmes, which sought to use genetic engineering techniques to create microbial strains resistant to antibiotics and with wholly new and unexpected pathogenic properties. During the mid-1980s, Biopreparat increased in size and political importance and also emerged as a major civil biopharmaceutical player in the USSR. In the wake of the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, an acute struggle for control of Biopreparat’s most valuable assets took place and the network was eventually broken-up and control of its facilities transferred to a myriad of state agencies and private companies.
Author(s): Anthony Rimmington
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
Year: 2021
Language: English
Pages: 284
City: Cham
Acknowledgements
Contents
About the Author
List of Figures
Chapter 1: Introduction
Chapter 2: The Secret History: Khrushchev’s Creation of Soviet Reserve Biological Warfare Mobilization Facilities Within Civil Production Plants in the 1950s and 1960s
Chapter 3: Glavmikrobioprom and the Emergence of the Soviet Microbiological Industry
The Soviet Microbial Proteins Programme
“Food from Oil”: Soviet Production of Microbial Proteins from Petroleum Derivatives
From Chemical to Biological Weapons: The Appointment of Vasilii Dmitrievich Belyaev as Head of the Microbiological Industry
BW R&D and Production Programmes Directly Pursued by Glavmikrobioprom
The Creation of Microbiological Facilities at Stepnogorsk
The Establishment of the Interdepartmental Scientific-Technical Council (MNTS) for Molecular Biology and Genetics Under Glavmikrobioprom
Chapter 4: Genesis: The Creation of Biopreparat
Biopreparat’s Initial Network of R&D and Production Facilities
VNIIbiokhimmashproekt: The Beating Heart of Biopreparat
VNIIbiokhimmashproekt’s Affiliated Sister Institutes
The Creation of the Science Production Association Biomash (NPO Biomash)
Chapter 5: Anthrax on the Kazakh Steppe: Biopreparat’s Network of Experimental-Industrial Bases
The Omutninsk Scientific Experimental-Industrial Base (ONOPB)
The Berdsk Scientific Experimental-Industrial Base (BNOPB)
The Stepnogorsk Scientific Experimental-Industrial Base (SNOPB)
The Transfer of B. anthracis Production from Sverdlovsk to Stepnogorsk
Chapter 6: The Creation of Biopreparat’s Scientific Base: The R&D Complexes at Obolensk, Kol’tsovo and Leningrad
Accomplishments of VNII PM in Soviet Weaponization Programmes: Bonfire (Koster)
The Factor (Faktor) Programme at Obolensk
The Transfer of the Lotoshino Production Plant to VNII PM
Biopreparat’s Virology Centre: The All-Union Institute of Molecular Biology (VNII MB)
The Creation of the Science Production Association Vektor
Accomplishments of VNII MB in Soviet Weaponization Programmes
Accidents During VNII MB’s Pursuit of Weaponization Programmes
The Civil Cover Is Blown: The Defection of Vladimir Artemovich Pasechnik to the UK and the Exposure of Biopreparat’s Secret BW Research Programme
Chapter 7: A Roadmap to the Future? The Emergence of Biopreparat as a Major Civil Biopharmaceutical Player
Engagement with the West: The Emergence of Kanatzhan Baizakovich Alibekov
Decay, Corruption and Environmental Protest: The Birth of the State Concern Biopreparat
Chapter 8: A Brave New World: Building Capitalism in the New Russia and the Struggle for Control of Biopreparat
Kalinin’s Retention of Power Within Russia’s Pharmaceutical Sector
The Establishment of the Open Joint Stock Company Biopreparat-Tsentr (Biopreparat-Centre)
Proposed Biopreparat Role in the Conversion of Russia’s Military Biological Facilities
The Financial Meltdown Within RAO Biopreparat and the Pivotal Role of the ISTC
The Fight for Ownership of Biopreparat’s Assets
Biopreparat and the Bitter Struggle for Control of Lyubuchany
Biopreparat’s Engagement with Russian and US Commercial Companies at Lyubuchany
The New Russia and the Struggle for the Control of Assets at Lyubuchany
The Creation of the Open Joint Stock Company Biopreparat
Estimating Numbers of Biopreparat Personnel
Scientific Meltdown: The Loss of Core Components of the Biopreparat Network
Operating in a System Subject to Endemic Corruption and Organized Crime
Recombinant Insulin Production in Kazakhstan: Biopreparat’s Ambitious Plans to Convert Military Biological Facilities at Stepnogorsk
US Engagement with Biomedpreparat and Destruction of BW Facilities at Stepnogorsk
Biopreparat’s Glittering Legacy: The Emergence of International Biotechnology Reagent Companies
Russia’s Civil Focus for Facilities at Vostochnyi
US Assistance in Dismantling of Biopreparat Dual-Use BW Facilities in Russia
Ending Not with a Bang but a Whimper
Chapter 9: Conclusion
Characteristics of the Biopreparat BW Programme
Soviet Rationale for the Launch of the Biopreparat Programme
The Achievements of the Biopreparat Programme
Biopreparat’s Legacy
Appendix A: Soviet and Russian Abbreviations and Acronyms
Appendix B: Composition of the Interbranch Scientific and Technical Council for Molecular Biology and Genetics (MNTS)
Appendix C: List of Associations, Enterprises and Organizations Included Within the State Concern Biopreparat, 4 April 19911
Appendix D: Award of Soviet State Honours to Glavmikrobioprom and Biopreparat Personnel
Index
