News of the death of an employee at an anti-plague institute in Russia’s Irkutsk region has caused a stir on social media. Authorities were compelled to address rumors of a potential plague outbreak and quarantine measures, saying the disease poses no threat to the region’s residents.
The incident has prompted a look back at plague outbreaks during the Soviet era that were never officially acknowledged by the authorities. Such cases are described in «Biohazard,» the memoir by scientist and biological weapons expert Ken Alibek.
The Soviet Union’s secret biological weapons program
During the Cold War, the Soviet Union secretly built one of the world’s largest biological warfare programs, developing deadly pathogens while concealing its activities behind civilian research institutions. As Alibek recounts in his memoir, plague — designated under the covert military code L1 — was one of the primary bacterial agents produced, stockpiled and modified for potential offensive use.
Clandestine field testing at the remote Rebirth Island proving ground in the Aral Sea resulted in serious incidents. In 1972, a sudden shift in wind direction carried a cloud of plague over a civilian fishing boat, killing two fishermen. During the 1970s and 1980s, abnormally high rates of plague were detected among rodents in inhabited areas north of the testing ground. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, doctors reported outbreaks of plague in several parts of Central Asia. Alibek wrote that it was impossible to prove that those outbreaks were connected to the Soviet tests, although he considered such a link highly likely.
Beyond field testing, Soviet bioweapons researchers worked to turn plague into an offensive agent at specialized facilities such as Obolensk and Stepnogorsk. Alibek and other former Soviet bioweapons scientists described efforts to develop strains of Yersinia pestis resistant to multiple antibiotics. Under the secret Project Bonfire, Soviet researchers also worked on genetically modifying microorganisms to carry biologically active substances, including myelin toxin.
The Soviet regime maintained secrecy around these developments through disinformation and strict security measures. When biological accidents occurred, officials concealed their causes and, in some cases, attributed outbreaks to other sources, including contaminated meat. Although regional anti-plague institutes in cities such as Irkutsk, Saratov and Volgograd officially focused on public health and epidemiology, the broader Soviet biological weapons program also operated through institutions presented as civilian scientific facilities.
The tragic death of Nikolai Ustinov
According to journalist Pavel Stepanov and the Telegram channel Mash, 28-year-old Daria Shipilova, an employee of the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Research Institute who died Oct. 2, allegedly dropped a test tube containing the plague pathogen in the laboratory on Sept. 25. The reported lapse in laboratory safety — or failure to follow safety protocols — was reminiscent of another incident described by Alibek.
In April 1988, a fatal laboratory accident occurred at the secret Vector virology complex in Koltsovo, Siberia. Nikolai Ustinov, a 44-year-old senior researcher working on Marburg virus, accidentally infected himself while injecting the virus into guinea pigs. The accident occurred during an experimental procedure in which he was working without the heavy protective mitts normally used for such work.
According to Alibek’s account, laboratory rules required the animals to be secured to a wooden board. Instead, Ustinov held a guinea pig with his gloved hand while injecting it. When a technician accidentally nudged him, his hand slipped. The syringe needle passed through the animal and punctured his thumb, allowing a small amount of Marburg virus to enter his bloodstream.
Despite immediate isolation and treatment, including antiserum, Ustinov’s condition deteriorated rapidly. He died on April 30, 1988, after about two weeks of severe illness.
After his death, researchers isolated Marburg virus from samples taken from his organs. The resulting strain was found to be more stable and virulent than the strain with which he had been working. It was subsequently designated «Variant U» in his honor and incorporated into the Soviet biological weapons program.
