anthrax spore investigation
So, let's go back to 1979, when Sverdlovsk (now Yekaterinburg) – a peaceful and industrial city in the Soviet Union, witnessed a serious release of anthrax spores – the most dangerous infectious disease.
Airborne releases of the toxic substance sickened about 80 people, of whom about 60 died as a result of this tragic event. Years later, a foreign delegation in the form of a group of investigators and scientists, led by an experienced expert, conducted an investigation using open source intelligence (OSINT) techniques. in this article we will take an excursion into history and consider methods for investigating the incident. The same thing exciting journey from the announcement – enjoy reading, @username.
Start
03/30/1979: Once upon a time he lived within the boundaries of Sverdlovsk military town No. 19 (Sverdlovsk-19)where laboratories involved in the production of biological weapons were located. According to microbiologist Kanatzhan Alibekov, on the last Friday of March 1979, one of the employees (probably Nikolai Chernyshev) removed the filter, but then there was a shift change, and the technician left a note to the shift worker: they say, I removed the old filter, and you put in a new one. But he did not make the corresponding entry in the work log.
Kanatzhan Alibekov – also known as Ken Alibek or Kenneth Alibek, who, after relocating production from Sverdlovsk to Stepnogorsk, developed an even more dangerous strain of anthrax. Later, Ken immigrates to the United States and talks about the incident in Sverdlovsk in his book “Biohazard”.
Interesting point: According to Alibekov, anthrax in Sverdlovsk was developed based on documentation captured from the Japanese in Manchuria in 1946. This was the documentation squad 731a notorious Japanese unit that tested, among other things, biological weapons on the Chinese population.
04/02/1979: The night shift calmly started up the equipment, and anthrax spores escaped through the ventilation pipes. The absence of a filter was discovered only a few hours later…
Thus, starting the irreparable, a cloud of biological weapons burst out of the ventilation, covering the southern part of Sverdlovsk. A cloud of deadly aerosol headed south and southeast from military camp No. 19 in the Chkalovsky district of the city. It included part of military camp No. 32, the area of Vtorchermet and Keramika, private houses, many institutions, etc.
04/04/1979: Patients began to arrive at hospital No. 24 with fairly common symptoms: high fever, cough, difficulty breathing. At first, it was assumed that the patients had pneumonia, but after a few days people began to die one after another, the medical staff was at a loss, because pneumonia is not such a fatal disease as to kill several patients in one hospital.
“Such an influx of patients was completely unexpected, so we took some of them to hospital No. 20,” says the head physician of hospital No. 24 in 1979, Margarita Ilyenko.
Soon the head physician of hospital No. 20, Yakov Klipnitser, called her: “Listen, Ilyenko, two of yours have died here… It looks like pneumonia.” After a while, the call came again: “I’m in a panic: three more have died! Toxic pneumonia.”
According to the first authorities, they kept the population in the dark and tried to solve the problem. But at some point the outbreak of diseases became too obvious. Then the legend of spoiled meat was invented.
A perimeter was set up, all stray animals were shot, illegal meat traders were arrested, the KGB destroyed hospital records and patient records, and the bodies were washed with chemicals to hide traces of anthrax.
04/05/1979: The Voice of America reported on the development of biological weapons in the USSR and the release of a strain of anthrax (Bacillus anthracis) in Sverdlovsk, which caused numerous deaths.(information is not confirmed, it is not possible to verify)
04/10/1979: On April 10, the first autopsy was performed at City Hospital No. 40. Doctors dismissed various diagnoses: pneumonia, cerebral hemorrhage, gastroenteritisuntil the only option left was anthrax.
04/12/1979: The death toll continued to rise, and this was noticed at the state level. A team of specialists arrived from Moscow, led by the chief infectious disease specialist, Vladimir Nikiforov, and the chief state sanitary doctor of the USSR, Burgasov. The authorities immediately began to fight the dangerous bacterium; they began to treat the entire Keramika region with chlorine-containing products; they used them to clean roads and house facades, and even wash roofs.
Mass vaccination was announced, people were not allowed to work without a vaccination certificate (yes, yes, you have an analogy with the coronavirus in your head, but let’s not get distracted and move on). In total, 80% of the population of the Chkalovsky district was vaccinated during the epidemic.
Rumors spread at breakneck speed and the whole city lived in fear, some residents even left Sverdlovsk, in a word, panic. Everyone began to wonder what, where and how?!
The establishment immediately put forward the cause of the outbreak – infected livestock. After which, mass destruction of livestock began, meat was forcibly confiscated from private owners, the sale of meat in the Chkalovsky region stopped, and animal corpses were burned on the outskirts of each settlement.
The version with infected cattle was quite convincing, and the population believed in it until the 90s, but there is one inconsistency. The cause of such a number of deaths could not be livestock, since after autopsy of many bodies it turned out that the spores entered the body by inhalation.
Global Incident
This bacteriological disaster attracted worldwide attention when major British and West German newspapers published articles about the incident. US intelligence, particularly the CIA and DIA, began to more carefully study satellite imagery and intercepted signals in the spring of 1979 and found confirming signs of a serious accident, such as checkpoints and decontamination trucks around military camp No. 19, as well as a visit by USSR Defense Minister Ustinov to the city.
– Reports of a possible anthrax outbreak in Sverdlovsk, related to an incident at a suspected Soviet biological weapons site, served to further deepen already deteriorating Soviet-American relations.
Was involved in the CIA analytical group to study the incident Matthew Meselson (previously worked as a consultant for the military department)[1]who in turn insisted on an investigation directly on the ground. Such activity of the scientist is not surprising, because information about the leakage of the pathogen spores could be advantageously used by the American establishment against the USSR, since the accusation of developing biological weapons would be a serious blow to the reputation of the Soviets on the world stage.
Paradigm change and friends in high offices
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, President Yeltsin needed to improve relations with the United States. His agenda also included an item on the complete dismantling of the Soviet biological weapons program.
Against the backdrop of political events, an investigation became a completely possible reality, and admitting a group of scientists and providing them with the necessary information was in the national interests of the state. The group was assisted administratively by Presidential Advisor Alexey Yablokov.
In 1992, a team of specialists went to Russia:
Group leader: Matthew Meselson (Harvard University) In 1983 led the investigation into the incident involving the use of T-2 toxin by warring parties in Southeast Asia;
Jeanne Guillemin (Boston College) Matthew's wife, later wrote the book: “Anthrax: The Investigation of a Deadly Outbreak” Specialized in the problem of abuse of bacteriological science, government weapons programs;
Dr. Martin Hugh-Jones (Louisiana State University) Professor Emeritus at Louisiana State University; veterinary epidemiologist with global experience;
Dr. Alexis Shelkov (Salk Institute) Ethnic Russian, born in Harbin, immigrated to the United States, where he received higher education in the field of medicine, from official Alexey’s biography can be found out that he participated in various government (including military) programs for studying and countering viruses;
Dr. David Walker (University of Texas) In 2001, he was involved as an expert in the investigation of a terrorist attack using anthrax spores.
Thus, the research group consisted of scientists specializing in pathogens, some of them already had experience working with US law enforcement agencies, and one of the participants supposedly spoke fluent Russian.
Techniques used in the investigation
One of the most important pieces of evidence was the list of people who died from anthrax.[2]the document also contained their address information, which made it possible to conduct public surveys about what happened. Additional information about dates of birth and death was obtained from grave epitaphs, since those who died of anthrax were buried in the same cemetery.
A problem for the group was navigating the area, since the previously purchased map turned out to be inaccurate. However, by purchasing an authentic map from local residents and comparing it with a satellite image from 1988, the group was able to find a pattern in all the deaths and come to the conclusion that they all happened to residents who were in the southeast of Sverdlovsk in the morning. 19″, this is more clearly demonstrated in the images below:
Back then, up-to-date maps actually had to be purchased at local stalls, and a photograph of the satellite was not at all available to the average person.
– Now, the first tool is provided by mega-corporations: Yandex, Google, Baidu. Always remember the importance of up-to-date maps; we have already given an example of how cartographic developments of non-profit organizations helped establish the exact location of the event during another investigation… Current satellite images can now be obtained for free, or for hard cash, of course. Here you go list.
The next piece of evidence that lifted the veil of secrecy over the outbreak of the disease were archival records from Koltsovo airport on wind direction for the period from March 30 to April 4.
As we can see, on April 2 the wind blew from northwest to southeast. The epicenter on the map is Sverdlovsk-19; the most frequent deaths occurred in people who were southeast of Sverdlovsk-19 on April 2.
Weather data is now also publicly available. For example: Zoom.earth or Yandex weather.
Conclusions and return trip
Thus, the version of the epizootic genesis of the anthrax outbreak was refuted by verification of address information and current maps, interviews with relatives and archival records about the weather conditions of the events that took place. However, from the article itself, which briefly describes the investigation, it can be assumed that the group did not consider the official version to be true, since the article quotes that efforts to verify the version of contaminated cattle were not verified:
been an epizootic? During our 1992 trip, we made no contact with veterinarians, nor were we able to visit the villages where livestock had reportedly died of anthrax in 1979. – “Anthrax: The Investigation of a Deadly Outbreak”
Which would be a logical decision if the group were considering the possibility of the veracity of this event. It can be assumed that the purpose of the investigation was to “refute the official Soviet version,” and the tasks were selected based on the need to verify the version of the leak from Sverdlovsk-19.
Also, due to the fact that the CIA and the DIA showed interest in the incident back in 1979, and the investigation itself was carried out in 1992, it can be assumed that that the group was presented with intelligence materials, which civilian specialists should have confirmed on the spot from non-confidential sources of information.
– However, for one reason or another, in 1993. Matthew Meselson and Jeanne Guillemin returned to Yekaterinburg in order to refute the version of animal meat contamination for the second time. This time they conducted a survey among the population of villages living in the southeast of Yekaterinburg and again were able to establish a pattern in the deaths of livestock:
Conclusion
In conclusion, I would like to say that time failed the investigators. If they had been able to obtain all the information they found in 1979, it would have created a worldwide sensation in 1992-1993. no one was interested anymore in what happened in the regional center of a superpower that no longer existed.
The text of the article also shows a nod to Yeltsin for his openness and integrity, which turned the article from a meticulous investigation into a dry listing of facts with a smack of panegyric.
Today, OSINT specialists have everything they need to conduct the same investigation without leaving their room. Go for it!
Even more educational content from the world of OSINT in the Telegram channel – @secur_researcher
[1] Arms Control and Disarmament Agency.
[2] The creation of the document was allegedly sanctioned by Yeltsin, who served as a deputy of the USSR Supreme Council from the Sverdlovsk region.
