Biohazard

Volga River region, Air Force base (exact location unknown). Bomber base that may have been used as launchpad for aircraft disseminating BW during Afghan war.

Vozrazhdenie (Rebirth) Island, Kazakhstan. Testing grounds for BW. Command and control center located in nearby city of Aralsk.

Zagorsk (now Sergiyev Posad) Virology Institute. Researched and developed smallpox, monkey pox, Bolivian hemorrhagic fever, Argentinean hemorrhagic fever, Marburg, Ebola, Lassa fever, Rift Valley fever, Venezuelan equine encephalitis. Researched Japanese encephalitis, tick-born encephalitis, Eastern equine encephalitis, Western equine encephalitis, Murray Valley encephalitis, Saint-Louis encephalitis, and others. Produced and stockpiled smallpox.

MAIN DIRECTORATE "BIOPREPARAT"

Created in 1973 to provide civilian cover for advanced military research into biological weapons, the agency was originally attached to the Council of Ministers. The majority of its personnel came from the army's Fifteenth Directorate, which kept it effectively under military control. A government reorganization in the mid-1980s transferred Biopreparat to the Ministry of Medical and Microbiological Industries, but it continued to enjoy virtually autonomous authority as the principal government agency for biological weapons research and development. Biopreparat was officially responsible for civilian facilities around the country dedicated to the research and development of vaccines, biopesticides, and some laboratory and hospital equipment; but many of its facilities doubled as BW development and production plants and were earmarked as "reserve" or mobilization units for use in case of war.

Berdsk, Technological Institute of Biologically Active Substances. Developed enzymes for research into genetically altered biological weapons.

Berdsk, Scientific and Production Base (Siberian Branch of the Institute of Applied Biochemistry). In operation from 1975 to 1981, it developed filling and assembling techniques for BW production, as well as lab techniques for production of brucellosis BW.

Berdsk, production plant. Mobilization (reserve) facility: plague, tularemia, glanders, and brucellosis. Target capacity up to 100 tons of each weapon annually.

Kirishi, Leningrad region, Special Design Bureau for Precision Machinery Building. Developed equipment for manufacturing and testing BW.

Koltsovo, Novosbirisk region, Institute of Molecular Biology "Vector." Researched and developed viral weapons: smallpox, Ebola, Marburg, Bolivian hemorrhagic fever, Venezuelan equine encephalitis, Russian spring-summer encephalitis. Studied numerous other viruses for possible BW use, including HIV. Developed genetically altered viruses for potential weapons use. Developed new production techniques for making smallpox and Marburg weapons. Researched genome of viruses in order to create "chimera" (combined) viral weapons.

Kurgan, Combine "Syntez." Mobilization (reserve) plant for manufacturing a liquid form of anthrax biological weapon. Assigned target capacity: 1,000 tons of unmodified anthrax weapons over one year.

Leningrad (now St. Petersburg), Institute of Ultra-Pure Biopreparations. Researched and developed techniques for testing and application of BW. Studied application of BW to cruise missiles.

Lyubychany, Institute of Immunology. Researched biological agents used to suppress human immune system.

Moscow, Institute for Biological Instrument Design. Developed BW detection equipment, biosafety equipment, and biosafety procedures.

Moscow, Institute of Applied Biochemistry. Designed BW manufacturing and testing equipment. Developed standards for industrial-scale manufacturing of biological weapons.

Moscow, Design Institute "Giprobioprom." Designed BW research and production facilities.

Obolensk, Moscow region, Institute of Applied Microbiology. Researched and developed plague, tularemia, glanders, anthrax. Developed drug-resistant and vaccine-resistant weapons (Metol), and weapons targeted on central and peripheral neural systems (Bonfire).