"typical behavior for an 8 year old..."
Or cheap non-resistance to a country that wants to test
biological warfare.
************************
Satellite images show major expansion at Russian site
with secret bioweapons past
Scroll to continue
New construction at a military research site near
Moscow reveals a specialized laboratory complex
designed to research and handle deadly pathogens,
experts say.
By Joby Warrick and Jarrett Ley
October 25, 2024 at 5:00 a.m. EDT
A few months after Russia began its full-scale invasion
of Ukraine in 2022, satellite imagery captured unusual
activity at a restricted military research facility
nestled among the birch forests northeast of Moscow.
The Russian site, called Sergiev Posad-6, had been
quiet for decades, but it had a notorious Cold War
past: It had once been a major research center for
biological weapons, with a history of experiments with
the viruses that cause smallpox, Ebola and hemorrhagic
fevers.
Satellite imagery over the next two years — collected
by commercial imaging firms Maxar and Planet Labs —
shows construction vehicles renovating the old Soviet-
era laboratory and breaking ground on 10 new buildings,
totaling more than 250,000 square feet, with several of
them bearing hallmarks of biological labs designed to
handle extremely dangerous pathogen.
There has been no sign such weapons have been used in
the Ukraine conflict, but the construction of new labs
at Sergiev Posad-6 is being closely watched by U.S.
intelligence agencies and bioweapons experts amid
worries about Moscow’s intentions as the conflict
grinds through its third year.
The images showed multiple signatures that, when
combined, indicate a high-containment biological
facility: dozens of rooftop air handling units, layouts
consistent with partitioned labs, underground
infrastructure, heightened security features and what
appears to be a power plant.
In recent weeks, Russian officials have publicly
confirmed that the scientists will use the labs to
study deadly microbes such as the Ebola viruses, in an
effort to strengthen the country’s defenses against
bioterrorism as well as future pandemics. Under Centers
for Disease Control guidelines, U.S. research on Ebola
is restricted to laboratories rated as “biological
safety level 4” (BSL-4), equipped to handle the most
lethal and incurable kinds of viruses and bacteria.
The Russian Ministry of Defense did not respond to a
request for comment.
Here are the key findings, based on an analysis of
satellite images and interviews with current and former
U.S. intelligence officials — as well as military,
biodefense and satellite imagery experts:
Four buildings have an unusually large amount of air-
handling equipment, at a scale typically associated
with high-containment laboratories.
BSL-4 labs require precise air pressure control, robust
filtration, backup air equipment, and separate systems
for lab and non-lab spaces to protect scientists from
contagious microbes.
The air in a BSL-4 lab must be replaced 12 to 15 times
per hour to maintain negative pressure, said Andrew C.
Weber, a former top Pentagon official for
nonproliferation who spent years investigating Soviet
bioweapons facilities in the 1990s.
Soviet-era labs at the Sergiev Posad-6 facility that
worked on weaponization of viruses similar to Ebola had
a “very secure air-handling system” to keep pathogens
from escaping, said Michael Duitsman, an expert in
Russian and Soviet missile technology and nuclear
nonproliferation at the James Martin Center for
Nonproliferation Studies.
The site also includes a building with tall exhaust
stacks that several experts believe to be a small power
plant.
A power plant independent of local energy
infrastructure is critical to maintain the temperature
and air circulation that a BSL-4 requires, Weber said.
Satellite images taken in April and May 2023 reveal the
construction of a 36-foot-wide underground tunnel that
links the labs and power plant — enough room for
vehicles and personnel to travel in a secure and
environmentally controlled space, as well as pipes to
convey steam that can be used for heating as well as
for autoclaves that sterilize contaminated laboratory
equipment.
Images taken before the roof construction also reveal a
complex design with clusters of compartmentalized rooms
that experts said were likely laboratory antechambers
for decontamination. One expert said the layout was
“consistent with lab design,” and most likely indicated
“maximum containment” laboratories.
U.S. officials and arms control experts, noting the
secrecy surrounding the military facility, say they are
worried about how Russia intends to use the new labs.
“This is where they weaponized smallpox,” Duitsman
said. “New technologies could supercharge the
capabilities of a revived program.”
Intelligence officials and biodefense experts say it is
impossible to tell from satellite photos whether Russia
plans to carry out offensive bioweapons research. A
laboratory equipped to study the deadly Ebola virus for
vaccine development may appear outwardly identical to
one that conducts research on weaponizing the strain.
Weber said he was troubled by Moscow’s decision to
embed the new research capabilities within the Russian
military in a highly secretive location notorious for
its past role in bioweapons research.
“The upgrades are consistent with this secure, top-
secret military biological facility’s historic role in
developing viral biological weapons,” said Weber, a
senior fellow at the Council on Strategic Risks, a
Washington think tank.
The new campus has several hallmarks of a Russian high-
security site that are consistent with the precautions
taken at a BSL-4 facility, five experts told The Post.
The checkpoints, road design, tree clearing, and nested
fencing tightly control movement and allow for
monitoring and surveillance, according to experts.
“It’s called an onion layer of defense,” said William
Goodhind, a military imagery analyst at Contested
Ground. “The more layers there are, the less likely you
are to have it defeated.”
Its security perimeter was cleared of trees to maintain
clear lines of sight, in a manner consistent with
defenses at other top-security Russian military sites,
Duitsman said. “Their nuclear weapons storage sites are
in forests, but there are clear perimeters around them
so that they can see anyone who tries to approach.”
A checkpoint upgraded in August 2022 and one built in
February 2024 control entry to the campus.
One main road restricts movement to a set path. A
separate road around the site’s perimeter could allow
for security patrols.
New security fences connect to existing security
barriers, which compartmentalize the new buildings
within Sergiev Posad-6’s
|
|