Russia's Dark Past: The Anthrax 'Chernobyl' and Present-Day Concerns

In April 1979, the Soviet city of Sverdlovsk was gripped by a mysterious illness that led to the deaths of at least 66 people. Victims experienced symptoms including coughing blood, frothing at the mouth, and dangerously high fevers. Soviet authorities attributed the outbreak to contaminated meat, a claim that masked the true cause: an accidental release of anthrax spores from a nearby bioweapons laboratory. This incident, later dubbed the 'biological Chernobyl,' remained largely secret for over a decade.

Autopsies on the victims revealed lungs consistent with the consistency of jelly. In the aftermath, authorities ordered the decontamination of homes and mandated that all deceased be buried in a single cemetery section, while foreign newspapers began reporting rumors of an anthrax leak from a military facility. US intelligence services suspected the Soviet Union of violating the 1972 Biological Weapons Convention.

Unraveling the Truth

The full truth began to surface in the early 1990s. Pathologists Faina Abramova and Lev Grinberg, who performed the initial autopsies, defiantly preserved tissue samples in formaldehyde when the KGB sought to confiscate them. When a team of American scientists, led by biologist Matthew Meselson, visited Russia in the early 1990s, they were shown these original samples. The analysis confirmed that the deaths were caused by inhalation anthrax, not intestinal anthrax from contaminated food.

Further investigation, including mapping the victims' locations, revealed that all those who fell ill lived downwind of Compound 19, a bioweapons facility on the outskirts of Sverdlovsk. The situation became clearer in 1992 when Soviet scientist Ken Alibek, who had been involved in the Soviet Biopreparat program that developed deadly pathogens for weapons, defected to the US. Alibek confirmed that an air filter malfunction at the Sverdlovsk plant had led to the release of Anthrax 836, a potent powdered variant being developed for ballistic missiles. This event remains the largest documented outbreak of human inhalation anthrax globally, with the actual death toll likely higher due to the initial cover-up.

Echoes in Siberia

Recent events in Siberia have revived memories of the 1979 incident. In early October, Darya Shipilova, a 28-year-old lab worker at the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Institute, died after developing a mysterious form of pneumonia. Initial reports suggested pneumonia of unknown origin, but speculation grew that she may have contracted the plague, especially after she reportedly broke a test tube containing Yersinia pestis, the bacterium that causes plague, days before falling ill.

Nearly 200 people who had been in contact with Shipilova were placed under quarantine. While Russia's health watchdog, Rospotrebnadzor, stated that samples from Shipilova did not reveal microorganisms linked to her work, the uncertainty surrounding her death has fueled concerns.

Ken Alibek has stated that Russia continues to work on biological weapons, citing the expansion of its biological facilities. He noted that the Irkutsk facility is part of a broader scientific infrastructure with historical ties to military research. Pathogens studied for their deadliness or resistance to treatment were, in the past, passed to Biopreparat for potential weaponization, and plague was one such pathogen of concern.

US officials have also expressed concerns, with the government assessing that Russia inherited the Soviet offensive biological weapons program and has potentially modernized related facilities. Satellite imagery analysis has revealed new construction at Sergiev Posad-6, a complex with a history of biological weapons research, showing buildings that appear consistent with high-containment biological laboratories. US officials are closely monitoring the situation and urging Russia to provide transparent and accurate information.