May 19, 2005
MosNews
Dozens of biodefence laboratories in North America, Britain, France, Germany and Israel were — and may still be — prime targets for Russian spies out to win the global war for deadly germs and viruses, a newly published book by former KGB operative, Alexander Kouzminov, reveals.
Kouzminov, who now lives with his wife in New Zealand, worked at the highly secretive Department 12 of Directorate S — the special operations branch of Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service and its forerunner, the Soviet KGB — for about 10 years.
He says its primary tasks were biological espionage, planning acts of terrorism and sabotage, preparing for biological warfare with the West, and supporting the Soviet, and later the Russian, biological weapons program.
He estimates that about 60 people, including the so-called ’illegals’ (spies who worked secretly under assumed names and “well-documented cover stories”), special agents and friendly sources, carried out Department 12’s tasks overseas in the 1990s, “and possibly as many still do today.”
Department 12 was interested in many types of facilities in all NATO countries, including high-level containment labs dealing with dangerous pathogens, infectious diseases and means to combat biological and toxin warfare, the former spy claims.
His book says that by the end of the 1980s it became apparent the West did not have a genuine offensive biological warfare program, unlike the Soviet Union, which had begun the mass production and storage of “highly effective” weapons.
“We discovered that, at the time, western countries were absolutely unprepared to face our weapons if the Soviet Union (or, later, Russia) had started a biological war against the main enemy, the U.S.A. and the NATO countries.”
Meanwhile, Department 12 was still collecting samples of biological materials and secret documents obtained by illegals and special agents.
Sometimes these were delivered to Moscow by means of an urgent channel codenamed VOLNA, or wave, via an international flight of the Soviet Aeroflot airline. Active and often deadly biological materials, including micro-organisms, pathogens and biotoxins, were stashed in the pilots’ cabin.
Even at the beginning of the 1990s, when Russia’s relationship with the West changed for the better, Directorate S carried on its work. “For us that meant: while favorable circumstances exist it is essential to utilize the respite to deploy to the West as many illegals as possible and to cultivate and recruit more special agents,” Kouzminov writes.
The former spy left Russia in late 1994, and now works as an adviser to New Zealand’s Health Ministry. He says he decided to reveal the details of his work following the 9/11 terrorist attacks “and the subsequent potential and quite serious threat of biological terrorism and sabotage around the world.”
http://mosnews.com/news/2005/05/19/ruscanspies.shtml