Russian President Vladimir Putin warned that Russia is gathering “purposefully and professionally” biological material representatives of different ethnic groups. The head of state stated this at a meeting of the Council for the Development of Civil Society and Human Rights.
Director of the Russian Public Institute of Electoral Law Igor Borisov said that certain individuals are collecting images using the video surveillance system in the Russian Federation Russian citizens for unknown purposes.
Putin responded to this literally as follows (quote from RIA Novosti): “But images are okay. Do you know that biological material is collected throughout the country? And for different ethnic groups and people living in different geographical points Russian Federation. The question is - why are they doing this? They do it purposefully and professionally. We are such an object of great interest."
“We need, of course, to approach this without any fear. Let them do what they want, and we must do what we must,” the Russian president added, Interfax reports.
Borisov mentioned the collection of “images” when making proposals for the electoral process in Russia. The Russian Public Institute of Electoral Law is a public organization registered by the Ministry of Justice in 1999. Chairman of the Council Igor Borisov is a former member of the Central Election Commission of Russia, candidate of legal sciences.
A possible source of Putin's assertion is a report from the RT channel about military viruses
Interfax links Putin's statement with summer reports about the US military's plans to purchase samples of ribonucleic acid (RNA) - the living tissue of Caucasian Russians. On July 28, the TV channel drew attention to the US Air Force contract, which was posted on the government tenders portal Federal Business Opportunity.
Applications for the tender were accepted until July 27. “All samples of fresh frozen synovium from a healthy person and ribonucleic acid from a healthy person must be of Russian/Caucasian origin,” the contract stated. At the same time, it was indicated that donor samples from Ukraine are not accepted.
The contract did not specify why the US Air Force Training Command needed Russian biomaterial. RT interviewed three experts for what purpose the US military intends to make such purchases. Two of them replied that the samples were taken for basic research analysis, however, the material ended with the opinion of a military expert, former member of the UN Commission on Biological Weapons Igor Nikulin, who sowed serious doubts in the viewer about the peaceful purposes of such a tender.
The expert whose opinion the TV channel aired last said that RNA samples can be used to develop viruses. “New types of biological weapons are being developed. This cannot be done in the military department for anything else. Most likely, these could be military viruses,” Nikulin said.
"The US is trying to develop different kinds biological weapons specifically for specific carriers of the gene pool, and Caucasians are needed since they make up the majority of the population of our country. This is the same focus group that they are trying to find the keys to. It is necessary for viruses to act selectively - on certain national groups. This problem was partially solved by the American Human Genome program. It was also largely financed by the Pentagon,” RT quoted its expert.
This version was replicated: for example, the Utro.Ru publication reported about this tender on July 28 with reference to RT under the headline “The United States will develop biological weapons against the Russians.”
Meanwhile, on social networks this message from the current President of the Russian Federation was clearly interpreted as conspiracy theories and paranoia: “Paranoia is when you are afraid to blurt out too much in front of a cat!<...>And if it starts happening to you, you need to immediately hide the code book and run to the doctor. By the way, this was taught in intelligence school,” noted one Facebook user.
“Left some biomaterial in the elevator for the CIA,”
The meeting of the Presidential Human Rights Council, which took place on October 30, was remembered not for Vladimir Putin’s eloquent reaction to the violation of human rights and the attack on freedom of speech, which Council members traditionally spoke about, but for an unexpected topic from the field of defense and security - the threat of “biological weapons” .
Objects of interest
The President listened to the comments of human rights activists and rejected almost everything: there is freedom of speech in the country and proof of this is the state-funded radio station Ekho Moskvy, whose journalist was almost killed by an unbalanced listener from Israel. Outstanding Theater Director for his Political Views no one is prosecuting, but fraud with government funding must be answered by law. It is not so important that foreign observers receive “images” of Russians through video cameras at polling stations. The real problem, according to Putin, is that some foreigners, for unknown purposes, are collecting biological material from Russians from different ethnic groups and geographical points of the country. “We are an object of great interest,” summed up the head of state.
Presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov later confirmed: “Some emissaries conduct such activities - representatives of non-governmental organizations and other bodies.” At the level of the legislative branch - the State Duma and the Federation Council - some saw the president's words as a signal to action.
Former head of Rospotrebnadzor Gennady Onishchenko announced the development of a law on biological safety Russians and attacked the Invitro laboratory network, calling the company “foreign” (although it was founded by the Russian doctor Alexander Ostrovsky, and it is owned through an offshore company (like 90% of the Russian economy) - the Cypriot Invitro Holding Limited). The accusations turned out to be unfounded: as the company later assured, all analyzes are carried out in Russia.
But by this time, the authorities on the lower floors were already talking about “biological” and even “ethnic” weapons, as well as about US biological laboratories on the borders of Russia. The topic has turned in the “right” direction: the president, judging by his statements, is very interested in the development of artificial intelligence, which will allow the creator country to take over the world, and genetic engineering, according to Putin, is even “more terrible atomic bomb" In other words, the president sees the latest scientific and technological developments as sources of power and progressive types of weapons.
At the same time, Putin has always gravitated toward personal and family history and was interested in his own origins. In 2015, he supported the Russian Genomes project of the Center for Genomic Bioinformation named after. Dobzhansky (in the state " Rossiyskaya newspaper“Just recently, material was published about how samples are collected for him) to study the genes of the indigenous people of Russia. A total of 3 thousand people should take part in the study. As of October this year, the data of half of the participants had already been processed. According to the president’s description, we could be talking specifically about the “Russian Genome”. However, it seemed strange that the head of state forgot about him.
Fight for the market
Russian scientists send the obtained DNA for sequencing to the USA and Europe as part of their research. The latter, as interpreted by representatives of the intelligence services or officials with “access to the body,” might not have pleased the president. And if the Center for Genomic Bioinformation talks about the accessibility and openness of the genome database for scientists from all over the world, then, for example, the commercial company Genotek, according to its director, geneticist Valery Ilyinsky, does not have this access, and he calls for analyzing biological materials exclusively in Russia. It would not be out of place to say that the board of directors of the young and developing company includes the former head of the presidential administration, Alexander Voloshin.
However, no matter how ambiguous and ominous the phrase “biological material” may sound, one must understand that this is a routine blood test in a clinic. Genetic samples are collected for applied purposes: to study heredity and predisposition to diseases, as well as purely scientific ones: to trace the development of an individual people or ethnic group, its settlement, migration routes, interbreeding. Thus, in 2015, a study was published about the gene pool of the Slavic people, but the Slavs are not the only ethnic group that scientists are interested in. This must be understood so as not to fall into delusions of grandeur, and then immediately into delusions of persecution.
Meanwhile, on the wave raised by the president, a real and long-overdue struggle for a highly specialized market unfolded. It is obvious that through the intelligence services and other channels laws and measures will be lobbied that will close the country off from the achievements of the global world. For this purpose, “horror stories” about a “hypothetical attack” on the genes of Russian citizens are specifically used. It is unlikely that the intelligence services understand DNA and understand the basics of genetics. However, they are excellent at manipulating information and creating myths. For example, about genetic weapons.
Possible biological warfare is being actively discussed today in the Federation Council: supposedly it is possible to develop some kind of weapon that will only infect Russians, causing them illness and death. At one time, this idea was promoted by the head of the Security Council, Nikolai Patrushev. Thanks to his efforts, in 2007, DNA samples could not be exported from Russia for some time, which affected tens of thousands of citizens who urgently needed donor organs and transplants. As the media wrote, at that time the situation was related to the redistribution of the pharmaceutical market.
Today, DNA and biomaterials are allowed to be exported from the country. However, companies operating in the promising market insist that the state must regulate it, because foreign companies do not pay taxes in Russia and do not obtain licenses in Russian jurisdiction, and do not comply with health laws. So, for example, says Artur Isaev, founder of the Center for Genetics and Reproductive Medicine Genetico.
Wherein full analysis DNA in Russia (probably taking into account taxes, licenses and other specific nuances) costs about 5 thousand dollars, while in Germany - 1 thousand. It is clear why citizens in severe cases turn to charities and go abroad for treatment. This also explains the cooperation of Russian scientists with foreign partners.
However, the myth quickly takes hold in the public consciousness. The news about the Pentagon purchasing biological material from Russians to study the musculoskeletal system confirmed the conspiracy theory of the president, who never answered the question of why foreigners are studying the DNA of Russian citizens. The fact that this was a repeated study, the purity of which required similar samples (and the original set was supplied on a competitive basis from Russia), no longer interests or convinces anyone.
At the same time, modern medicine International cooperation is urgently needed to advance disease control and develop new pharmacological agents. We are talking, first and foremost, about people's lives, and not about power, markets or weapons. Respected scientists, unlike government officials, are very skeptical about the possibility of creating a “genetic” weapon: large nations and ethnic groups have not lived in isolation from each other for the last thousand years, they are heavily mixed and genetically indistinguishable, so that it is possible to isolate a specific combination of Russian genes or the British and influence them exclusively.
Unfortunately, in our reality, myths are stronger than facts, and conspiracy theories are always more attractive than the truth.
On Monday, October 30, Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed concern about the “collection of biological material throughout the country” by Russians. At a meeting of the Human Rights Council (HRC), the President stated that this activity is being carried out purposefully and professionally.” The statement by the head of state came in response to a statement by the director of the Russian Public Institute of Electoral Law, Igor Borisov, that images of Russian citizens are being collected from foreign IT addresses in the Russian Federation with the help of a video surveillance system, the website of the AIF newspaper reports.
Last summer, the media reported that a contract allegedly from the US Air Force was posted on the US government tenders portal for the purchase of samples of RNA (ribonucleic acids) - living tissues of the Caucasian race. It was planned to purchase, media reported, 12 samples of RNA molecules and 27 samples of synovial fluid, which ensures joint mobility, from donors from Russia.
AiF.ru found out from experts what kind of “biological material” we are talking about collecting and for what purpose the US military intends to make such purchases.
“In fact, we are not talking about any targeted collection of biological material. If such a collection were carried out, then there would be no terrible meaning in it. Because there is no genetic weapons and other horror stories do not exist. The collection of Russian living tissue is not an Air Force contract, but a contract from one particular hospital that appears to be conducting research into joint diseases. In such studies, it is reasonable to collect materials from different ethnic groups for the purity of the study. There are a lot of people of Russian nationality in America; there is no need to travel to Russia for this purpose. And this contract does not mention any trips to Russia. RNA samples for this type of research help to establish genetic predisposition and find some signs that predispose to various kinds of diseases. To distinguish genetic predisposition from some history of migration of peoples, different ethnic groups are included in the study,” Doctor of Biological Sciences, bioinformatician at the Higher School of Economics, professor of the Department of Modeling Technologies, told AiF.ru complex systems Skoltech, head master's program"Biotechnologies" Mikhail Gelfand.
The fact that the links in the media to the US government procurement website regarding the tender for the purchase of RNA samples do not indicate the development of biological weapons, but the conduct of medical research, is also suggested by the head of the laboratory of genomic geography of the Institute of General Genetics of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Doctor of Biological Sciences Oleg Balanovsky.
“It is unlikely that those who informed the president are so ignorant as to confuse this tiny tender (a dozen samples) with a mass survey of all the peoples of Russia. The President said that biological material is collected (a) from different ethnic groups, (b) in different geographical locations (c) en masse. But in American government procurement it’s the other way around: representatives of any Russian ethnic group of the “white race” (that is, it can be Udmurts or Kabardians), any place of residence (that’s why it’s easiest for them to collect from Russian emigrants living in the USA) and not tens of thousands, and only twelve samples. The terms of the American purchase sound like a medical study (you need to indicate age, weight-height index, absence of musculoskeletal diseases, etc.), thousands of such studies are published around the world every year, including by Russian scientists,” says Balanovsky .
“Our scientists carry out a lot of work on collecting and analyzing biological material - this is the State task that the Federal Agency of Scientific Organizations gives to subordinate institutes, and the Union State program “DNA Identification”, and projects of the Russian Science Foundation, and many others. There are three types of such studies - some study the history of the peoples of our country using DNA, others increase the accuracy of forensic DNA examinations, others look for disease genes and develop methods of personalized medicine. We, Russian scientists, are conducting these studies ourselves, so it remains unclear why the president’s speech sounded as if this work was being carried out en masse by foreign specialists. Let's approach this, as the president advised, “without any fear,” the expert added.
On October 31, the press secretary of the Russian President Dmitry Peskov said that Putin received information about the collection of biomaterial from the special services. The press secretary added that such cases have indeed been recorded, and “the president has this information.”
Experts recall cases of mysterious epidemics
Unknown persons for unknown purposes are collecting biological materials from our citizens throughout Russia. Experts believe that the purpose of this may be, among other things, the creation of selective genetic weapons. However, the possibility of its appearance in the near future raises doubts among experts.
Let us recall that Putin made a statement about the collection of biomaterials from Russians at a meeting of the Human Rights Council. “Biological material is collected throughout the country. Moreover, for different ethnic groups and people living in different geographical locations of the Russian Federation. They do it purposefully and professionally. We are such an object of interest,” the president said.
According to military expert Anatoly Tsyganok, the collection of biomaterials was organized by the Americans to create a new generation of biological weapons. “This will be a selective genetic weapon. Its use is extremely difficult to identify and identify, and the loss of life may be greater than that of an atomic bomb.”
Similar studies have been conducted by the American military for a long time, Tsyganok added, and over the past decades several have been recorded possible cases use of such weapons. In particular, the expert recalled an episode that occurred about thirty years ago in the countries Latin America. “There is a known case of pig poisoning in Cuba in the late 1980s. Within two months, all these animals died on the island.”
Information about the Americans collecting biological materials from Russians appeared in the summer of this year. Then it became known that the US Air Force command had placed a contract for the purchase of several RNA samples from Russians. As stated in the contract, “all samples must be taken in Russia from Caucasians,” a separate clause stipulated that samples from Ukraine would not be accepted.
An expert in the field of biological research for military purposes, on condition of anonymity, told MK that the Americans can use them to create new viruses that will infect specific ethnic groups. “This situation was observed in 2002 during the so-called SARS epidemic in China. Then, in this country, the SARS coronavirus killed the Chinese and other Asians, but did not touch a single European.”
The expert admitted that such biological weapons could theoretically be used against our country if tensions in relations between Russia and the United States reach the limit after which war is declared. "If application nuclear strike Russia is suicidal for America, then they will be able to inflict unacceptable losses on us with the help of diseases for which there are no cures.”
He added that similar developments were carried out in our country. In particular, he recalled an incident in Sverdlovsk in 1979, when a cloud of anthrax spores was released from a military biological laboratory located in the Chkalovsky district of the city. Then the epidemic of this terrible disease claimed, according to various sources, about a hundred lives of local residents. “It should be noted that the defeat of people was quite selective. Among the victims were mostly men, and of the most able-bodied age, from 30 to 40 years old.” The expert declined to comment on the question of whether such types of biological weapons exist in Russia today.
At the same time, a researcher at the Institute of Biochemistry and Genetics of Ufa scientific center Konstantin Kitaev questioned the conclusions of military experts. In particular, the SARS outbreak in China did not affect Europeans due to differences in immunity from Asians. “I think it's a coincidence. It’s just that the Chinese did not have the same immunity as representatives of European nationalities, which is why SARS affected them so much.” As for the development of selective genetic weapons, according to Kitaev, at the current level of technological development this is impossible.
The day before, on October 30, during a meeting of the Council for the Development of Civil Society and Human Rights (HRC), Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that foreigners are collecting biological material from Russian citizens.
During the meeting the head public organization"Russian Public Institute of Electoral Law" Igor Borisov informed the president that almost a million views from abroad (950 thousand) were recorded from polling stations on the Unified Voting Day in Russia on September 10. According to him, certain individuals are using a video surveillance system in the Russian Federation to collect images of Russian citizens for unknown purposes.
“The question is why so many interested parties are watching our elections and video recording the actual image of a person and how it will be used in the future,” Borisov said.
"Regarding the fact that images of our citizens and voters are collected and somehow used. Images, that’s okay. But you know that biological material is collected throughout the country. Moreover, for different ethnic groups and people living in different geographical locations of the Russian Federations. The question is: why are they doing this? They do it purposefully and professionally. We are such an object of very great interest," Putin said.
“Of course, we must approach this without any fear: let them do what they want. But we must do what we must,” Putin concluded.
The statement caused a great resonance.
Doctor of Biological Sciences, bioinformatician Mikhail Gelfand, in a commentary to the National News Service (NSN), explained what kind of collection of biological material Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke about the day before, emphasizing that we're talking about not about all ethnic groups in the country.
“Someone greatly deceived Vladimir Putin. They collect data not from all ethnic groups in the country, but only from Russians. Judging by the information that is available, we are talking about genetic determinants of joint diseases. I don’t know why they need the Russians, perhaps because they want to separate the mutations that cause predisposition from the purely historical trace. This is always a problem,” Gelfand said.
At the same time, according to the scientist, the use collected material for the creation of genetic weapons is excluded. “This is some kind of disgusting lie. There is no such weapon. People are too similar to each other to be able to create specific weapons against any race,” he explained.
“It is probably possible to create - very expensive and very difficult - a weapon against some very small ethnic group that has not mixed with anyone for the last thousand years. Russians are not such an ethnic group. It is probably possible, after spending crazy amounts of money, to figure out how to exterminate the inhabitants of the so-called Andaman Islands. But there is more to this simple ways", the biologist added.
Press Secretary of the President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Peskov has also already commented on the words of his boss, saying that the special services actually have data on the collection of biological material from the country’s residents.
“This information comes from Russia’s special services. Indeed, some emissaries are conducting such activities, representatives of non-governmental organizations and other bodies,” Peskov said.
In turn, the Federation Council stated that it is ready to take part in the development of a bill that would make it possible to equate samples of biological materials of Russians with their personal data and introduce similar protection at the legislative level.
“If there is really information that worries the president about the state of affairs in this area, we will be happy to get involved in legislative work,” the head of the Federation Council Committee on social policy Valery Ryazansky.
Let us recall that earlier, on October 21, during a meeting with participants of the World Festival of Youth and Students in Sochi, Vladimir Putin said that the technology of creating a person with given characteristics using.
“Genetic engineering, which will certainly give us amazing opportunities in the field of pharmacology, new drugs, changing the genetic code if a person suffers from a genetic disease, is wonderful. But there is another component of this process,” he said.
“What does this mean: a person acquires the ability to get into genetic code, created either by nature, or, religious people say, by the Lord God. One can even imagine, not even theoretically, but practically, that a person can create a person with given characteristics. This could be a brilliant mathematician, it could be a brilliant musician, but it could also be a military man - a person who can fight without a feeling of fear and regret. And without pain,” explained the head of state.
According to the Russian president, humanity can soon enter and, most likely, will definitely enter a very important and responsible period of its existence and development.
“What I just said could be worse nuclear bomb. When we do something, no matter what we do, we must never forget about the moral and ethical foundations of our business,” Putin concluded.
Even earlier, in the summer of 2017, on official portal US government procurement Federal Business Opportunity published a US Air Force tender for the purchase of living tissue from Caucasian Russians. According to the text document, the US Air Force plans to buy 12 samples of ribonucleic acid (RNA is one of the three main macromolecules found in the cells of all living organisms) and 27 samples of synovial membrane (produces the fluid necessary for joint function). The purpose of collecting material was not indicated.
The Russia Today TV channel then tried to find out for what purpose such data could be collected. In an interview with the TV channel, scientists stated that RNA samples are used in medicine to develop drugs against specific diseases. “The more you know about people's genetic diversity, the better your ability, in particular, to treat and diagnose diseases. All people are different from each other. That is, the genetic background and the reasons for the extent to which differences in genes are responsible for some other differences in people are still not understood and are the subject of active study,” said Konstantin Severinov, a professor at the Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology and Rutgers University in the USA.
And according to the chief researcher of the Institute of General Genetics. Vavilov RAS Sergei Kiselev, RNA is not effective material to create biological weapons: "If it were in the interests of the army, it would be very specific interests." Even RNA samples extracted from muscle will be different from those extracted from blood. Thus, weapons developed based on it would have an extremely narrow effect.
After Putin’s speech yesterday, the Moskovsky Komsomolets newspaper quoted in its material the words of retired FSB Major General Alexander Mikhailov.
“This is a very serious topic. And the fact that the president voiced it means that it is moving into the implementation stage,” says Mikhailov. “The theory of breeding a new race itself is not new. Such experiments have been carried out before, for example, in fascist Germany. In this case, we are most likely talking about creating a system of influencing a person at the cellular, chromosomal level. The biospecimen opens the door to effects on the body."
“If someone intends to transfer the war to the level of genetics and influence the enemy at the cellular level, then for the other side the collection of biomaterials can result in colossal losses. After all, biological warfare is not only the spread of viruses and infections: the impact on individual human cells can also cause "colossal effect! This is the most villainous invention, which, of course, should be banned along with chemical weapons," the expert is sure.
According to the director of Genotek Valery Ilyinsky, two centers are collecting biomaterial from Russians, while the research itself is being conducted in the USA. Judging by the publications, the purpose of the research is to study genetic diversity, including diseases that affect different ethnic groups.
“In theory, such variations can be used for a hypothetical attack on their carriers, but in practice such approaches are not used, and I have never heard of anyone trying to do this,” RIA Novosti quotes the geneticist as saying.
