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If anyone knows what Russia's secret biological weapons program is capable of, it is Dr Ken Alibek.
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it → publish → what
The 76-year-old was once the No. 2 man in the Soviet Union's vast Biopreparat germ-warfare machine, overseeing a secret network of laboratories developing deadly pathogens for use as weapons.
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old → oversee → weapons
He defected to the United States in 1992 and spent decades exposing the program he had helped run.
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he → defect → program
Now Alibek is warning that the mysterious death of a young worker at a Russian plague laboratory needs to be watched closely.
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death → warn → laboratory
'It's highly suspicious,' Alibek told the Daily Mail.
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Alibek → tell → Mail
Almost 200 people are reportedly being monitored in Russia's Irkutsk region after 28-year-old laboratory worker Darya Shipilova died from pneumonia of 'unknown' origin last week.
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Shipilova → monitor → origin
Shipilova worked at the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Research Institute of Siberia and the Far East, a 1930s facility in Shelekhov, near Irkutsk.
She was hospitalized on September 29 and died on October 2.
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She → work → October
Russian authorities have not confirmed that she had plague.
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she → confirm → plague
Today, local media claimed a second person had died and it appears that national media has begun wiping its reports about the situation, raising fears of a cover-up.
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media → claim → up
Ken Alibek testified to Congress about Russia's bioweapons programs after he defected in 1992
Lab worker Darya Shipilova died in Siberia of pneumonia after reportedly breaking a test tube
Health officials have been pictured in the Irkutsk wearing hazmat suits amid plague response
Reports from independent media said Shipilova may have accidentally broken a test tube containing live plague bacteria.
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Shipilova → testify → bacteria
Plague can take several forms, but its most dangerous is pneumonic plague, which infects the lungs and can spread from person to person through respiratory droplets.
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which → take → droplets
Alibek said he would be particularly concerned if more people being monitored in Russia's quarantine camps begin to die or fail to respond to standard antibiotics – a possible warning sign that a dangerous, drug-resistant strain could be involved.
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strain → say → antibiotics
Antibiotics have kept plague largely at bay since they became widespread in the 1940s.
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they → keep → 1940s
But pneumonic plague remains extraordinarily dangerous when untreated.
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plague → remain → ?
A 2020 CDC review found that 98 percent of patients with pneumonic plague who received no antibiotics died, compared with 17 percent of those who were treated.
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who → find → those
The evidence suggests a drug-resistant strain could be devastating.
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strain → suggest → ?
Russia's long history of secretly turning deadly diseases into weapons is another cause for concern, he said.
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he → turn → concern
'Russia is working on biological weapons, no doubt, otherwise they wouldn't have built such huge facilities in recent years,' Alibek said, pointing to an expansion of Russian biological facilities in recent years.
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Alibek → work → years
He warned that if the two deaths are connected to a laboratory accident, the Kremlin's playbook of secrecy could make it difficult for the outside world to find out what really happened.
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what → warn → secrecy
'Definitely the information about that case is absolutely closed now,' he said, speaking to the Daily Mail just hours before the federal television channel REN TV deleted all five of its reports about the situation.
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channel → close → situation
'I'm 100 percent sure that you wouldn't get any new information except maybe some cover story about what really happened.'
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what → get → story
Russia's health watchdog says investigators found no evidence of an accident involving dangerous pathogens.
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investigators → say → pathogens
Still, authorities in Siberia have imposed extensive precautions, with hundreds of people Shipilova had come into contact with placed in quarantine and parts of the hospital where she died restricted.
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she → impose → hospital
Neighboring countries including Mongolia, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan are tightening border health controls.
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countries → neighbor → controls
If it turns out the be pneumonic plague, quarantining close contacts of the infected is crucial because the infection spreads via droplets when people cough.
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people → turn → droplets
Anna Popova, head of Russia's health watchdog, Rospotrebnadzor, traveled to the region as officials mounted an emergency response.
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officials → travel → response
Rospotrebnadzor said samples taken from Shipilova did not reveal microorganisms linked to her work.
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samples → say → work
Officials also said no laboratory accident involving dangerous pathogens has been found.
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accident → say → pathogens
But some reports have claimed that five days before she fell ill, Shipilova accidentally broke a test tube containing Yersinia pestis – the bacterium that causes plague – while working at the institute.
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that → claim → institute
The conflicting accounts have deepened the mystery.
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accounts → conflict → mystery
Alibek said the Irkutsk facility sits within a much broader Soviet scientific infrastructure that had links to military research.
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that → say → research
During the 1970s and 1980s, he said, Soviet scientists studied natural strains of disease that could have military uses.
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that → say → uses
If a pathogen appeared particularly deadly or difficult to treat, it was ultimately passed into the hands of Biopreparat, the secret organization responsible for developing the Soviet Union's biological weapons, he said.
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he → appear → weapons
Alibek has previously described Soviet efforts to create antibiotic-resistant versions of Yersinia pestis as a weapon.
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Alibek → describe → weapon
A researcher from Irkutsk Anti-Plague Institute during a field trip
That history makes the current response in Irkutsk worth close attention, he said.
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he → make → Irkutsk
'If amongst people who are quarantining, you'll see more people dying, it can be antibiotic resistant,' Alibek told the Daily Mail.
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Alibek → quarantine → Mail
Though he never worked with the Shelekhov lab, he said it would doubtless have connections to the bioweapons program, and scientists there may have been modifying diseases.
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scientists → work → diseases
And there is evidence that Russia has been pouring money into some of the same military-linked biological research facilities inherited from the Soviet era.
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Russia → be → era
The US government has assessed that Russia inherited the Soviet offensive biological weapons program and has not provided evidence that it was completely dismantled.
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it → assess → evidence
It has also accused Moscow of modernizing Soviet-era facilities that could support an offensive program.
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that → accuse → program
…and 9 more, not listed.
The Aporia
