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U.S. Eyeing Soviet-Era Germ Warfare Site
October 26, 2001
Summary
The United States is sending a team to the Aral Sea island of Vozrozhdeniye, the final resting place of much of the Soviet Union's biological weapons experiments. The official purpose of the operation is to remove buried anthrax spores and decontaminate the site. But Washington is more likely looking to develop new vaccines and antibiotics while preventing anti-U.S. groups from retrieving deadly samples.
Analysis
The United States is planning to send a team to Vozrozhdeniye, Uzbekistan, where the Soviet Union conducted germ warfare experiments for more than 40 years, the New York Times reported Oct. 23. The group will dismantle the biological weapons facility on the island, remove buried anthrax spores and decontaminate the site.
But the budget allotted for the operation, a mere $6 million, is insufficient for the task, indicating an ulterior motive for the deployment. Washington's plans may actually involve claiming samples to develop its own germ warfare treatments and keeping hostile players from getting their hands on deadly samples.
The Soviets tested and disposed of their biological weapons on the Aral Sea island of Vozrozhdeniye partly because of its remoteness. However, Moscow's inefficient irrigation practices depleted the Amu Darya and Syr Darya rivers that feed the Aral. Robbed of its source waters, the sea has dried to less than 20 percent of its 1960 volume, and the tiny island is now connected to Uzbekistan.
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Dan
U.S. Eyeing Soviet-Era Germ Warfare Site . . .