What are biological weapons and how have they been used throughout history. How are biological agents categorized and what are their potential impacts on health. What are the critical priorities for public health in addressing bioterrorism threats.

The Evolution of Biological Warfare: From Ancient Times to Modern Threats

Biological warfare, the use of living organisms or their toxic products as weapons, has a long and troubling history. Dating back to the sixth century BCE, this form of combat has evolved significantly over time, becoming increasingly sophisticated and potentially devastating.

In ancient times, primitive forms of biological warfare included poisoning wells or using diseased corpses to contaminate enemy water supplies. As scientific understanding grew, so did the potential for more targeted and effective biological weapons.

Early Examples of Biological Warfare

• 6th century BCE: Assyrians poisoned enemy wells with rye ergot
• 14th century: Mongols catapulted plague-infected corpses into besieged cities
• 18th century: British forces distributed smallpox-infested blankets to Native Americans

These early examples demonstrate the long-standing use of disease as a weapon, even before the mechanisms of infection were fully understood.

Understanding Biological Weapons: Composition and Delivery Methods

Biological weapons are complex systems designed to inflict harm on a large scale. They typically consist of two main components: a weaponized agent and a delivery mechanism.

Components of Biological Weapons

1. Weaponized Agent: This can be any disease-causing organism or toxin
2. Additives: Substances to enhance dissemination and stability
3. Delivery System: The method used to disperse the agent

How are biological agents typically delivered? Biological weapons can be disseminated through various means, including:

• Aerosol sprays
• Contamination of food or water supplies
• Vector-borne transmission (using insects or other animals)
• Direct injection

The choice of delivery method can significantly impact the effectiveness and reach of a biological attack.

Categories of Biological Agents: Understanding the Threat Levels

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) classifies potential bioterrorism agents into three categories based on their risk to national security and public health.

Category A Agents: Highest Priority

What makes Category A agents so dangerous? These agents are considered the highest priority due to their ease of dissemination, high mortality rates, and potential for causing widespread panic and social disruption.

• Anthrax
• Botulism
• Plague
• Tularemia
• Smallpox
• Viral hemorrhagic fevers

Category B Agents: Moderate Priority

Category B agents are the second highest priority. They are moderately easy to disseminate and typically result in moderate morbidity rates.

• Brucellosis
• Q fever
• Ricin toxin
• Cholera

Category C Agents: Emerging Threats

These agents represent the third highest priority and include emerging pathogens that could potentially be engineered for mass dissemination in the future.

• Nipah virus
• Hantavirus

The Impact of Biological Weapons on Health and Society

The potential health impact of a biological attack is influenced by several critical factors:

• Type of agent used
• Preparation and modification of the agent
• Mode of delivery
• Environmental conditions during the attack

Why are biological weapons considered particularly dangerous? Unlike other weapons of mass destruction, biological weapons have the potential to initiate epidemics, causing widespread illness and death long after the initial attack.

The impact extends beyond human health. Biological weapons can also target crops and livestock, potentially causing food shortages and economic devastation. The psychological impact of a biological attack can lead to panic, social unrest, and long-lasting trauma within affected communities.

Technological Advancements in Biological Warfare

As technology progresses, so does the potential for more sophisticated and dangerous biological weapons. Recent advancements in biotechnology, particularly in genetic engineering and synthetic biology, have raised concerns about the potential creation of enhanced or entirely new pathogens.

Emerging Technologies in Biological Warfare

• CRISPR gene editing
• Synthetic biology
• Nanotechnology
• Advanced delivery systems

These technologies could potentially be used to create pathogens that are more virulent, have increased environmental stability, or are resistant to current treatments. The dual-use nature of many biotechnologies presents a significant challenge in preventing their misuse while still allowing for beneficial scientific research.

International Efforts to Control Biological Weapons

Recognizing the grave threat posed by biological weapons, the international community has made efforts to control their development and use.

Key International Agreements

• 1925 Geneva Protocol: Prohibited the use of biological weapons in war
• 1972 Biological Weapons Convention (BWC): Banned the development, production, and stockpiling of biological weapons
• UN Security Council Resolution 1540 (2004): Aimed to prevent non-state actors from acquiring weapons of mass destruction

Despite these agreements, challenges remain in verification and enforcement. The dual-use nature of many biological technologies makes it difficult to distinguish between legitimate research and weapons development.

Preparing for and Responding to Biological Attacks

Preparedness for biological attacks requires a multifaceted approach involving public health systems, medical professionals, law enforcement, and government agencies.

Key Elements of Biodefense Preparedness

• Early detection and surveillance systems
• Stockpiling of vaccines and treatments
• Training of medical personnel
• Development of rapid diagnostic tools
• Public education and risk communication strategies

Why is responding to a biological attack particularly challenging? Unlike chemical or radiological attacks, the effects of a biological weapon may not be immediately apparent due to incubation periods of various agents. This delay can complicate the public health response and potentially allow for wider spread of the pathogen before containment measures are implemented.

Effective response also requires clear communication and coordination between various agencies and the public. Timely and accurate information dissemination is crucial to manage public reactions and ensure compliance with health measures.

The Role of Public Health in Bioterrorism Preparedness

Public health systems play a critical role in both preventing and responding to biological attacks. Their responsibilities encompass a wide range of activities, from disease surveillance to emergency response coordination.

Key Public Health Functions in Biodefense

1. Disease Surveillance: Monitoring for unusual disease patterns that could indicate a biological attack
2. Laboratory Capacity: Maintaining facilities capable of rapidly identifying biological agents
3. Medical Countermeasures: Stockpiling and distributing vaccines and treatments
4. Emergency Response Planning: Developing and exercising response plans for various scenarios
5. Risk Communication: Educating the public and providing accurate information during an event

How can public health systems improve their preparedness for biological threats? Continuous training, regular exercises, and investment in robust surveillance and laboratory systems are essential. Additionally, fostering strong partnerships with other sectors, including law enforcement, emergency management, and healthcare providers, can enhance overall readiness.

Ethical Considerations in Biological Weapons Research and Defense

The field of biological weapons research and defense raises numerous ethical questions. While research is necessary to develop effective countermeasures, it also carries risks of misuse or accidental release.

Ethical Dilemmas in Biodefense Research

• Dual-use research: Studies that could potentially be used for both beneficial and harmful purposes
• Gain-of-function experiments: Research that enhances the transmissibility or virulence of pathogens
• Biosafety and biosecurity: Ensuring proper safeguards while conducting necessary research
• Publication of sensitive information: Balancing scientific transparency with security concerns

How can we balance the need for biodefense research with ethical concerns? Implementing robust oversight mechanisms, fostering a culture of responsibility within the scientific community, and promoting international cooperation and transparency are crucial steps. Additionally, engaging in ongoing dialogue about the ethical implications of biodefense research can help guide policy decisions and research practices.

The Future of Biological Warfare and Global Security

As technology continues to advance, the landscape of biological warfare and bioterrorism threats is likely to evolve. Understanding these potential future challenges is crucial for developing effective prevention and response strategies.

Emerging Concerns in Biological Warfare

• Engineered pathogens with enhanced virulence or transmissibility
• Targeted biological agents designed to affect specific ethnic or genetic groups
• Use of artificial intelligence in pathogen design and optimization
• Challenges in attribution due to advanced bioengineering techniques

How can the global community prepare for future biological threats? Strengthening international cooperation, investing in cutting-edge detection and response technologies, and fostering a global culture of biosecurity are essential. Additionally, addressing underlying causes of conflict and promoting global health security can help mitigate the risk of biological weapons development and use.

As we move forward, the intersection of biology, technology, and security will continue to present both challenges and opportunities. By remaining vigilant, adaptive, and committed to ethical practices, we can work towards a future where the threat of biological warfare is minimized and global health security is enhanced.

Biological Weapons – Tips – Johns Hopkins Public Health Preparedness Programs

Biological weapons are a subset of a larger class of weapons referred to as weapons of mass destruction (WMD), which also includes chemical, nuclear, and radiological weapons. Biological weapons are unique, in that?a biological weapon attack could potentially result?in an epidemic.

A Different Sort of Response

The response required for bioterrorism is also fundamentally different from that demanded by natural disasters, conventional explosives, chemical terrorism, radiological terrorism (e.g., ?dirty bombs?), or nuclear weapons. Due to the incubation periods of a number of biological agents, the effects of a biological attack may not be noticed for several days after the delivery of the agent against a population?a fact that complicates the public health response to a biological attack compared, for example, to the acutely recognizable results of a chemical attack.

What is a Biological Agent?

Biological weapons have been employed throughout history, with some of the earliest recorded uses dating to the sixth century BCE. [Source: http://www.usdpi.org/history_of_biological_warfare.htm, accessed 4/7/03]. A biological weapon is generally composed of a biological agent or toxin (bacteria, mycoplasma, rickettsiae, viruses, yeasts, fungi), additives to assist with dissemination and stability, and a delivery system. Biological agents can be delivered:

• as an aerosol
• by food?or water
• by a vector
• by injection

Impact on Health

The health impact of a biological attack depends critically on:

• type of agent
• its preparation
• mode of delivery
• meteorological conditions (e.g., temperature, wind speed, humidity, sunlight) under which the attack is conducted

Biological weapons can be directed against crops and livestock, in addition to humans.

The Three Categories of Biological Weapons
The CDC separates potential bioterrorism agents that cause infections in humans into three categories, designated as A, B, and C [source: http://www. bt.cdc.gov/Agent/agentlist.asp, accessed 4/7/03].

Category A agents carry the highest priority because they:

• can be easily disseminated or spread person-to-person
• can be highly lethal
• have the potential for serious public health impact?
• can potentially cause public panic and lead to social disruption

Category A agents include the following:

• anthrax
• botulism
• plague
• tularemia
• smallpox
• viral hemorrhagic fevers

Category B agents carry the second-highest priority because they:

• are moderately easy to disseminate
• usually result in moderate morbidity
• are generally less lethal

Examples of category B agents include:

• brucellosis
• Q fever
• ricin toxin
• cholera

Category C agents carry the third-highest priority. They include emerging pathogens that could potentially be engineered for future mass dissemination.

Examples of Category C agents include:

• Nipah virus
• hantavirus

Critical Priorities
Recognition of?response to and risk communication about bioterrorism threats must remain critical priorities for the public health community as it seeks to optimize the nation?s preparedness level.

What are Biological Weapons? – UNODA

Biological weapons disseminate disease-causing organisms or toxins to harm or kill humans, animals or plants.

They generally consist of two parts – a weaponized agent and a delivery mechanism. In addition to strategic or tactical military applications, biological weapons can be used for political assassinations, the infection of livestock or agricultural produce to cause food shortages and economic loss, the creation of environmental catastrophes, and the introduction of widespread illness, fear and mistrust among the public. 

Weaponized agent 

Almost any disease-causing organism (such as bacteria, viruses, fungi, prions or rickettsiae) or toxin (poisons derived from animals, plants or microorganisms, or similar substances produced synthetically) can be used in biological weapons. The agents can be enhanced from their natural state to make them more suitable for mass production, storage, and dissemination as weapons. Historical biological weapons programmes have included efforts to produce: aflatoxin; anthrax; botulinum toxin; foot-and-mouth disease; glanders; plague; Q fever; rice blast; ricin; Rocky Mountain spotted fever; smallpox; and tularaemia, among others.

Delivery mechanism 

Biological weapons delivery systems can take a variety of forms. Past programmes have constructed missiles, bombs, hand grenades and rockets to deliver biological weapons. A number of programmes also designed spray-tanks to be fitted to aircraft, cars, trucks and boats. There have also been documented efforts to develop delivery devices for assassinations or sabotage operations, including a variety of sprays, brushes and injection systems as well as means for contaminating food and clothing.  

Technological advances 

In addition to concerns that biological weapons could be developed or used by States, recent technological advances could increase the likelihood of these weapons being acquired or produced by non-state actors, including individuals or terrorist organizations. For more information about recent scientific and technological advances relevant to the Convention, please click here. The 20th century saw the use of biological weapons by individuals and groups committing criminal acts or targeted assassinations, biological warfare conducted by States, and the accidental release of pathogens from laboratories. There were also false accusations of biological weapons use, highlighting the difficulty in differentiating between naturally-occurring disease, accidents and deliberate use.  

Biological event 

In practice, should a suspicious disease event occur, it would be difficult to determine if it was caused by nature, an accident, sabotage, or an act of biological warfare or terrorism. Consequently, the response to a biological event, whether natural, accidental or deliberate, would involve the coordination of actors from many sectors who together possess the capability to determine the cause and attribute it to a specific source. Likewise, the preparedness for and prevention of such an event should also involve multi-sectoral coordination. For more information about preparing for and responding to disease outbreaks and biological weapons attacks, please see the frequently asked questions published by the World Health Organization. 

Spectrum of biological risks

International coordination 

Because of the wide spectrum of potential biological hazards, efforts to manage the risks should be multi-disciplinary, multi-sectoral, and above all, coordinated. As such, the BWC relies primarily on a network approach based on coordination with international, regional, and nongovernmental organizations and initiatives in order to address the interconnected nature of biological threats in a holistic manner. Under the framework of the BWC, improved coordination would provide positive externalities for managing disease, whatever the cause. Such an approach ensures that resources are used optimally to provide benefits for many. In this sense, for example, building capacities across sectors to monitor disease not only strengthens the ability to detect and respond to a biological attack, but it also provides States with the capacity to track and mitigate naturally occurring disease, thus vastly improving public health worldwide. 

What is known about the Ukrainian project for the development of biological weapons

In Ukraine, a network of more than 30 laboratories was created in which biological weapons were developed. Documents published by the Russian Ministry of Defense testify to this. As specified in the department, the network was built by order of the United States. The Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation is now studying the documents in detail. Experts note that information about American laboratories for the production of biological weapons located on the borders with Russia has been reported before. The topic was also touched upon by RT in its previous publications.

According to the Russian Defense Ministry, the Ukrainian network consisted of more than three dozen biological laboratories. All of them were built by order of the US Department of Defense Office of Defense Threat Reduction (DTRA). The existence of the network, judging by the documents, was well known in Germany – according to the discovered documents, in 2020-2021, German specialists studied the pathogens of the Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever, leptospirosis, meningitis and hantaviruses in the Ukrainian biological laboratory.

Among the secret papers released by the Russian Ministry of Defense, a copy of a letter from Ukraine’s Health Minister Viktor Lyashko is of particular interest.

Addressed to medical institutions and laboratories, this letter orders the destruction of a number of biological pathogens in connection with the introduction of martial law in the country on February 24th.

This document is accompanied by the procedure for the destruction of hazardous biological materials. Copies of acts of destruction of pathogenic agents were also found.

According to the official representative of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, Major General Igor Konashenkov, the agents of plague, anthrax, tularemia, cholera and other deadly diseases were destroyed. So, in particular, more than 320 containers were liquidated in Lviv: 232 with the causative agent of leptospirosis, 30 with tularemia, ten with brucellosis and five with plague.

Laboratories in Kharkov and Poltava worked with pathogens of diphtheria and dysentery.

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territory of Ukraine… To prevent disclosure of facts of violation by the United States and Ukraine of Art. 1 of the UN Convention on the Prohibition of Bacteriological (Biological) and Toxin Weapons, the Ukrainian Ministry of Health sent an instruction to all biolaboratories on the urgent elimination of stored stocks of dangerous pathogens, ”said a representative of the Russian Ministry of Defense.

Chairman of the Investigative Committee of Russia Alexander Bastrykin ordered a detailed check of the documents discovered by the Ministry of Defense.

Remote access

Information about such laboratories appeared before, military expert Vladislav Shurygin recalled in an interview with RT.

“The history of biological laboratories discovered in different countries of the world has been going on for more than a year. In Ukraine, in Georgia, in Kazakhstan,” he noted, adding that in Georgia the activities of these centers were curtailed in 2008, and in Kazakhstan – quite recently.

According to Shurygin, American legislation provides for extremely high requirements for the protection of such laboratories from possible leaks of hazardous substances, so their number is limited in the United States.

“That’s why such laboratories were built in other countries where the protection requirements are much lower,” the expert explained.

“Pushing across the borders”

Retired colonel Viktor Litovkin, a TASS military observer, also speaks about the legal aspect of Washington’s actions to build a network of biological laboratories.

“The creation of American laboratories is a flagrant violation of the Convention on the Prohibition of Biological Weapons, and they are being shoved along the borders with our country – in Georgia, Armenia, Kazakhstan,” he said.

According to him, this is done to discreetly damage our country under the guise of outbreaks of exotic diseases. Such crimes should be investigated by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, but it does not notice these facts, Litovkin emphasizes.

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“The names of doctors are there, you can find them,” he noted. So, the documents indicate some Nadia Kushka, Lyubov Borritska, Tetyana Shevchenko, Petro Vasilets, Alla Parkhomenko, Viktoria Skubak (original spelling preserved. – RT ).

The expert also believes that attempts to cast doubt on the version of the production of biological weapons in these laboratories are untenable.

“If some other work was carried out there, then why didn’t Ukraine talk about research on these especially dangerous pathogens before?” — says Kulikov.

According to political scientist Alexei Mukhin, the submitted documents “raise no doubt that these are traces of the production of biological weapons.”

He claims that there were more than ten biological laboratories, including mobile ones, and he associates outbreaks of exotic diseases with their activities. The expert, like his other colleagues, points out that the work in these laboratories was classified.

Deep Roots

This is not the first time RT has drawn attention to the US military’s interest in biological developments.

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Earlier, the editors reported, citing foreign media, that in 2015 the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, which is the scientific wing of the Pentagon, was preparing to allocate subsidies in the amount of $ 32 million for research on the production of artificial human DNA .

Despite assurances of the program’s peaceful purposes, the funding received from the Pentagon was already causing concern among some American scientists.

In particular, Professor Francis Boyle, author of the 1989 Biological Terrorism Act, told MWC News that since the September 11, 2001 attacks, the United States has spent about $100 billion on the development of biological weapons.

In July 2017, RT published an article about a tender by the US Air Force Air Training Command for the purchase of RNA samples – living tissues of Caucasian Russians.

Picking up the keys

It was planned to purchase from donors from Russia 12 samples of RNA molecules (that is, containing the gene information of acids present in all living cells) and 27 samples of synovial fluid (an important component of the joint, ensuring its mobility).

At that time, experts interviewed by RT suggested that purchases can be made both for scientific purposes and for dual purposes. Military expert and former member of the UN biological weapons commission Igor Nikulin is convinced that RNA samples are used to develop viruses.

“New types of biological weapons are being developed. It cannot be in the military department for anything else. Most likely, these are combat viruses. The United States is trying to develop various types of biological weapons specifically for specific carriers of the gene pool, and Caucasians are needed, since they make up the majority of the population of our country. This is the same focus group they are trying to pick up the keys to. It is necessary that viruses act selectively – on certain national groups. Partially this problem was solved by the American program “Human Genome”. It was also largely funded by the Pentagon,” Nikulin concluded.

“The calculation that people do not know the names of pathogens”

The community of alumni of the Faculty of Biology of Moscow State University circulated a post on Facebook in which they demanded that a number of Russian pro-Kremlin media outlets stop “false propaganda based on disinformation and hatred.” We are talking about media publications that claim that Ukraine was allegedly developing biological weapons.

On March 6, the Russian Ministry of Defense published documents stating that biological weapons were allegedly being created in Ukraine. The official representative of the department, Major General Igor Konashenkov, said that on February 24, pathogens of plague, anthrax, tularemia, cholera and other deadly diseases were urgently destroyed in Poltava and Kharkov laboratories.

After that, dozens of reports appeared in the pro-government media alleging that allegedly Ukrainian biological laboratories were fulfilling orders from the Pentagon. On March 9, the press secretary of the President of the Russian Federation, Dmitry Peskov, said that “it will certainly be interesting for the whole world to understand and find out what these institutions were doing.”

Blocked in my country

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What to do

and brucellosis , in Kharkov and Poltava – with pathogens of diphtheria, salmonellosis and dysentery.

In Ukraine and the United States, these reports were called disinformation and stated that the countries are cooperating exclusively in the areas of creating vaccines and detecting outbreaks of diseases caused by dangerous pathogens.

In response, the community of graduates of the Faculty of Biology of Moscow State University circulated a post on Facebook that analyzes the accusations of representatives of the Russian Ministry of Defense. Its author Evgeny Levitin , candidate of biological sciences, microbiologist, genetic engineer and molecular biologist, told Sibir.Realiyam why he demanded to refute the statements made by Russian officials.

– Why did you write an open letter to the editors of RIA Novosti, Gazeta.ru, Russia Today, Fontanka, Komsomolskaya Pravda and other media that published reports that Ukraine allegedly urgently eliminated traces of a program to create a biological weapons funded by the Pentagon?

– Because they wrote a pure lie. This is a deliberate lie, which is not justified in any way. This will become obvious to any person who takes the trouble to simply carefully read the documents attached to the allegation of the creation of biological weapons in Ukraine.

Let me explain with a simple example. Imagine: you come to a certain office and see an inscription on one of the rooms – “Instructions for the cleaner.” Wet clean the premises twice a day. ” From this you conclude that in this room Ukrainian nationalists dismember people alive twice a day and sacrifice them to Cthulhu, and then cover up the traces. Statement by the official representative of the Russian Ministry of Defense Igor Konashenkov in combination with the documents attached to this application gives just such an impression.0003

– But why? Documents on the eradication of dangerous pathogens in Ukrainian laboratories have a long list of pathogens…

– Compare it with the list of so-called especially dangerous infections. There is nothing of the kind in the published list of drugs disposed of in Poltava and Kharkov laboratories. Let’s see what pathogens are listed in it.

A document with the names of pathogens from a bombed-out laboratory in Ukraine published by the Russian Ministry of Defense as alleged evidence of the development of biological weapons with US money

Corynebacterium diphtheriae is a potentially dangerous, but completely unsuitable strain of the diphtheria pathogen for widespread distribution. It is very difficult to contract diphtheria until a full spoonful of this culture is poured down your throat – then you will feel bad.

Corynebacterium pseudodiphteriticum are bacteria that are part of the normal microflora of the human upper respiratory tract and skin. This is already a purely conditional pathogen. It can harm human health only in conditions of immune deficiency.

Corynebacterium xerosis is something that can potentially cause inflammation of the mucous membranes in some people. The thing, of course, is rather unpleasant, but it is treated with a special cream.

Baсillus lihenifprmus “C” is the strain you deal with all the time. It is found anywhere, even in yesterday’s borscht.

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Bacillus stearothermophilis may be considered an opportunistic pathogen, but again, this bacillus needs to be ingested a lot, and even in an immunocompromised person, it will not cause dangerous diseases.

Staphilococcus aureus is also the most common thing, which can be infected simply from the air. If you leave a cup on the table, then every hundredth colony of bacteria that forms there is Staphylococcus aureus. Yes, it happens that because of it, yellow plaques grow on a person’s throat, but this is not staphylococcus to blame, but the state of the body.

Escherichia coli – we all have this Escherichia coli in our intestines. If you sow samples of microflora, then half of the people will meet this Escherichia coli. This is not good, because it means that we are not eating well and we need to make changes to the food system, but this does not mean that this is a dangerous infection.

Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a Pseudomonas aeruginosa that lives in water and soil and is opportunistically pathogenic to humans. Klebsiella pneumoniae is also an opportunistic pathogen.

All listed in published documents are opportunistic pathogens, with the exception of Clostridium diphtheriae. But this pathogen does not belong to the group of especially dangerous pathogens.

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– Then why were these strains kept in Ukrainian laboratories?

– They are used in any epidemiological institute, in any microbiological laboratory, even in any sanitary and epidemiological station where samples are sown. These strains are needed for comparison. Here a person comes, takes a swab from the throat, specialists do sowing and see what bad things develop in him there. The strains grown on the cup need to be compared with something. Therefore, there are samples in any normal laboratory that deals with epidemiology or even just microbiology.

You don’t even need a special permit to store these strains. These pathogens are not subject to specially registered storage. You just need to fill out a special form confirming that they are. This is common practice.

– If these are the most common strains that are widely used, then why did the Ukrainian biological laboratories urgently destroy them on February 24, as Konashenkov said?

– Because this is also common practice. Periodically – every six months, for example – the epidemiological institute is registered, and some of the cultures that are not needed for further work are disposed of. That is, they are carefully destroyed by various methods of disinfection. Moreover, even the most innocent strains are disposed of in this way, because you can’t throw them in the trash.

Same situation here. Epidemiological laboratories, which do not even have permission to work with especially dangerous infections, have disposed of cultures of potentially harmful bacteria. They complied with the order of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine dated February 24, 2022 on the disposal of pathogens in a state of emergency. The purpose of – is to prevent all sorts of accidents that could lead to the entry of biocultures into the external environment. This is a reasonable decision.

– It turns out that strains that are not particularly dangerous were destroyed. Why, then, General Konashenkov announced the destruction of the pathogens of plague, anthrax, tularemia, cholera and other deadly diseases?

– This is a complete lie in its purest form. Plague, anthrax, tularemia, cholera – all this is not in the published documents. The calculation is simply that people do not read either Ukrainian or Latin and do not know the names of pathogens.

This is how propaganda works. The Ministry of Defense made a false, unfounded statement – and now, if I talk to people, then 90% of them will say: “Bioweapons were made in Ukraine.” No one has read the attached documents. And those who have read it will say: “Well, yes, maybe there are no dangerous pathogens in these documents. But we are not told about this for nothing. Maybe there are dangerous strains in other documents that cannot be published openly.” This kind of reaction is also possible.

All this is propaganda in its pure, distilled form. Lies without any basis.

– Is it possible that the RF Ministry of Defense will later actually discover the causative agents of plague, anthrax or cholera in Ukrainian biological laboratories?

– Of course, in Ukraine there are probably laboratories that work with especially dangerous pathogens. And that’s okay too. Hundreds of laboratories in Russia have official permission to work with anthrax, for example.

I worked in France in a laboratory that dealt with animal pathology and studied parasites in domestic animals. And this ordinary veterinary laboratory also had permission to work with especially dangerous infections. To get it, the laboratory just needs to be properly equipped and correctly register dangerous strains. If specialists work with them, this does not mean that they are developing biological weapons.

If the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation discovers in Ukraine documents of laboratories that have official permission to work with dangerous strains, this will also not be surprising or terrible. But the military department did not bother to wait for even such a pretext for propaganda. Perhaps they didn’t have time for this.

It seems to me that the statement on the development of biological weapons in Ukraine was prepared and agreed upon in advance. After all, immediately after the statement of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, the official representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the PRC, Zhao Lizqian, spoke, who called on the United States to clarify its activities in biological militarization. The Chinese representative tried to fan the panic by saying that there are American biological laboratories operating in Ukraine, on which the United States spends hundreds of millions of dollars, and these laboratories are clearly doing something wrong.

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– Is it possible that there really are laboratories in Ukraine that receive funding from the USA?

– Of course. Because this is also common practice. The cost of labor in Ukraine is much less than in America. And if some American company needs to get a certain protein in order to carry out immunization or increase biomass in order to study the effect of a certain substance on microbes, then it is ten times cheaper to do it in Ukraine than in America. Therefore, Americans certainly use this outsourcing.

Similarly, American firms outsource some of their work to China, Vietnam, or India. In Russia, this was also common, until international cooperation began to be strangled in our country.

Laboratories that carry out orders for foreign companies can be of various types, not only biological, but also chemical and geological. Science is generally global, it is not tied to any one country. If a biological laboratory in Ukraine works with money from the United States, this does not mean that it is developing biological weapons.

In addition, there are hardly any laboratories in Ukraine that work entirely not for private firms, but for such US government agencies as the National Institutes of Health. Ukraine has been a poor country for too long, and there are few specialists left who could carry out orders as serious as the development of biological weapons. Most of them, unfortunately, have already left. A good specialist will prefer to work in America for dollars, and not in Ukraine for hryvnias. Actually, the situation is the same in Russia.

– In many Russian media, the topic is being discussed that the US authorities developed in Ukrainian laboratories not just biological weapons, but weapons specifically against the Slavs. That they studied Slavic DNA…

– The claim of “Slavic DNA” is just nonsense for anyone who remembers a high school biology course. Such statements go back to the theories of the German National Socialists with their cult of the “Aryan superior race”. The fact is that peoples as genetic communities do not exist at all. This is a common place for all biologists for about 150 years. And there is no such people as the Slavs either.

The Slavic languages ​​began to spread very rapidly in the 5th-6th centuries AD. The ancestors of modern Bulgarians went south and conquered the Thracian population. The ancestors of modern Russians went north and conquered territories inhabited by Finno-Ugric peoples. The Western Slavs assimilated the Celtic population living in Europe. The local population has not changed genetically, it has simply adopted the language and culture of the newcomers. In the process of assimilation there was a mixture of blood. And this is only one stage, but there was still a great migration of peoples, the Tatar-Mongol conquest, etc., etc.

To see how large-scale the mixing of blood was, it is enough to study the genetic map of the world. The share of Slavic genes is not only among the Finns or Poles, but also among the Chinese. And such a genetic community as the Slavs, and even more so Russians or Ukrainians, simply does not exist. It can’t even be labeled. Russians and Ukrainians are like two salads made from the same ingredients. One has more of some components, and the other has more of others. Moreover, the residents of Rostov-on-Don and Kharkov will have more in common than a native of a Karelian village and a Siberian.

All peoples are a mess of various genes. And there is no special DNA of the Slavs.

Studying Slavic DNA in order to create a biological weapon against the Slavs is also complete nonsense. Even if it were possible to develop such a bioweapon – and this is impossible in the near future – it would not be successfully used. Anyone who wanted to kill a third of the Russians with it would have destroyed at least a quarter of the population of their country.

– If we take the most remote geographically peoples – for example, the inhabitants of Central Africa and China – is it possible to create a biological weapon that will be dangerous for one nation and will not threaten another?

– Okay, let’s imagine that, let’s say the African Zulu tribe suddenly created a biological weapon against the rest of the world. Purely theoretically, this is possible. For example, in Africa, a common genotype is prone to sickle cell anemia. A very unpleasant thing. In people with this genotype, with any insufficient supply of oxygen, with heart failure, red blood cells shrink and hardly carry oxygen. This genotype is common in Africa because it protects against malaria. And so they took the Zulu and tried to infect the Chinese with malaria. Yes, there will be about half as many deaths among the Zulu as in the rest of the world, but there will still be losses on both sides. So why do we need such a weapon if the usual one works much more efficiently?

Let’s even imagine a situation with a much more deadly disease than malaria. Let’s say the Zulus decided to drop microbiological bombs on the whole world with a huge amount of anthrax bacilli. How can the Zulus themselves avoid death? The easiest way is to vaccinate your population in advance. But, firstly, the probability of infection still remains. And secondly, in the modern world with PCR methods, it is impossible to keep the use of these weapons a secret. The causative agent is very easy to identify. The real use of biological weapons is impossible due to their inefficiency and easy detection. It seriously loses compared to conventional weapons.

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– What evidence should the RF Ministry of Defense bring to convince the whole world that biological weapons were indeed being developed in Ukraine? Is it possible, for example, to take plague or anthrax pathogens from Russian laboratories and claim that they were found in Ukraine?

– This is very risky for your own reputation. For example, it turns out that this plague strain has already been described in a Russian laboratory. The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation will present the pathogen to international experts, and they will answer: “Sorry, but this is a strain from Mongolia. Why are you hanging noodles on us.” After all, all strains are as individual as fingerprints.

You can, of course, find some strain that is widely distributed and used in hundreds of laboratories around the world. But, as we have already said, the fact that it will be presented as found in Ukraine will not be proof of the development of biological weapons. It will be necessary to present to the world community … (laughs) a tank found in Ukraine that contains tens of kilograms of anthrax spores. Only then will it be suspicious. This is the same situation as if the Russian Defense Ministry said that Ukraine was preparing to launch a nuclear strike on Russia. Then it would be necessary to demonstrate thousands of kilograms of weapons-grade plutonium, allegedly manufactured at Ukrainian enterprises.

But in both cases the forgery would be easy to expose. A good fake is generally very difficult to make. When a person does some work, it is easier for him to do this work than to fabricate a fake that it has really been done. This is the same as trying to imitate someone else’s writing, moreover, in a foreign language and from another era. I can now try to write a message on behalf of a person of the 20s of the last century, but any more or less competent specialist will immediately find out that this is a fake. Finding a fake is much easier than making one.

Judging by the absurdity of the accusations that have already been made, the Russian Defense Ministry is generally not very concerned about providing reliable evidence. It is enough to state that Ukraine is developing biological weapons and publish the first documents that come across. And then, if there is a fuss, say: “Sorry, we made a rash statement.”

– The sediment will still remain, will the propaganda work?

– This is the calculation. Perhaps the Russian Ministry of Defense wanted to find something more convincing than the published documents on the disposal of conditionally dangerous strains. But to be honest, I don’t think they even thought about it right now. After all, the accusation of creating biological weapons is urgently needed, right now. Not in six months and not for the international community. It is designed for an immediate effect among Russians. And all foreign experts who see this statement are simply amazed.

My post with an appeal to the editors of the propaganda media was read by many, including quite well-known scientists. They assessed the credibility of the evidence and said it was just some kind of madness. And to my proposal to somehow disseminate this information, they answered: “Is it worth it? If this obvious lie is taken too seriously, they might think that maybe there really is something there … But it’s just obvious absurdity” .

They may be right for their environment. But here, in Russia, the situation is different. Here 90% of people believed the apparently false accusations.

– Did you expect a response from the editors of the media that published this lie?

– To be honest, no, I didn’t count.