Is Russia developing biological weapons in a large laboratory near Moscow? ᐉ News from Fakti.bg – World

At a major Cold War-era military base, Russia is developing biological weapons, the Washington Post reported, citing satellite images.

The facility, known as Sergiev Posad-6, has previously been known as a major biological weapons research center, including experiments with the viruses that cause smallpox, Ebola and hemorrhagic fever. For decades, the base was inactive, but after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, that changed.

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A few months after Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, satellite images captured unusual activity at a secret military research facility nestled among birch forests northeast of Moscow.

Satellite images over the past two years have shown construction vehicles renovating the former Soviet-era laboratory and breaking ground on 10 new buildings, several bearing the hallmarks of bio-laboratories. experimentally dedicated to dangerous pathogens.

There are no signs that such weapons have been used in Ukraine, but US intelligence agencies and biological weapons experts are closely monitoring the construction of new laboratories at Sergiev Posad-6 amid concerns about Moscow’s intentions.

The security measures at this Russian base are draconian. The Soviet-era laboratories at the Sergiev Posad-6 facility had a “very secure air handling system” to keep pathogens from “escaping”, experts said. A power plant independent of the local energy infrastructure is essential for maintaining temperature and air circulation. This is what is currently created in the database.

US officials and arms control experts, noting the secrecy surrounding the military facility, say they are concerned about how Russia plans to use the new laboratories. Intelligence officials and biodefense experts say it is impossible to tell from satellite imagery whether Russia intends to conduct offensive bioweapons research.

Biological and chemical weapons are banned by international treaties, but Moscow appears to be warning its adversaries that it could use unconventional weapons if forced. Vladimir Putin has already threatened Ukraine and Western countries with the use of nuclear weapons.

Former Russian President Boris Yeltsin admitted in 1992 that the Soviet Union had built an arsenal of biological weapons, but the Kremlin denied the claim, insisting that members of the never produce such a weapon.

There is evidence that the Russian army used chemical weapons on the front in Ukraine. In addition, Russian services used such in the poisoning of Skripal and Navalny, enemies of the Putin regime.

Moscow often accuses the United States and its allies of planning to use biological weapons against the Russians, without evidence. The United States ended the production of biological and chemical weapons in 1969 and completed the destruction of its stockpile of Cold War biological weapons under civilian supervision in 1972.

One of the Russian military units operating at Sergiev Posad-6 is under US sanctions for allegedly engaging in illegal military activities, including assisting developing the chemical weapons used in the attempted assassination of Skripal. According to US officials, Russian scientists may believe that the threat (from the US and NATO making such weapons) exists and therefore feel justified in creating and testing new weapons.