It’s late July 1971 at the Aral Sea. On the deck of a biological research vessel,
Lev Berg, a 24-year-old marine biologist casts nets to collect plankton and fish.
In the distance, some 15 kilometers away, she can see the coast of Vozrozhdeniye Island. People live
there, but no one ever comes in contact with them. The island is a restricted area, the property of
the Soviet Military. The locals don’t know what kind of military facility it is, only that no
one is allowed to go anywhere near the island. The young scientist could only wonder, watching
from a distance, what kind of secret the island and its people hide. Soon, she would learn that
Vozrozhdeniye was off-limits for a good reason. A week after she traveled near the island,
the scientist fell ill. Once she returned home to Aralsk, the largest town on the coast of the
Aral Sea, she developed a high fever. Her illness raised the alarm locally and escalted to Moscow’s
highest political circles. The disease she carried was one of the most terrifying.
The military facility at Vozrozhdeniye Island was anything but ordinary. There were no reports of
loud explosions, rocket launches, or the usual that one might expect from the mighty Red Army.
Instead, it was home to a secret biological weapon testing site.
At the time, the Soviet Union had an extensive biological weapons program. The head of the
program was the notorious chief of the secret police (known as the NKVD), Lavrentiy Beria.
Apart from commanding the Soviet biological weapon program, Beria was also in charge of
the atomic bomb project. Under his leadership, the Soviet Union developed a sophisticated biological
weapon program, primarily as a response to a similar program developed by the United States.
Like most things related to Soviet military efforts, the biological weapons project was
shrouded in mystery. Apart from the central research institute in Kirov,
there were research facilities in Sverdlovsk (present-day Yekaterinburg)
and Zagorsk (present-day Sergiyev Posad). In addition, field tests were conducted at several
locations, with the one at Vozrozhdeniye Island being among the most important.
Firsts tests took place on the island in 1936 and 1937, before the Second World War. In these tests,
the military studied the effects of different anti-personnel pathogens that cause cholera,
dysentery, leprosy, paratyphus, plague, tetanus, typhus, and bio-agents targeting livestock.
In the early years of the Cold War, field tests resumed.
By 1954, a large complex named Aralsk-7 was built. It comprised of military barracks,
a field scientific research laboratory with high-containment facilities, and a small village
called Kantubek where facility personnel and their families lived. Far downwind from this complex
was a vast open-air test range spreading over 100 square kilometers (38.6 square miles).
Here scientists and military personnel carried out pathogen tests that cause feared diseases
like anthrax, tularemia, brucellosis, Q-fever, and Venezuelan equine encephalitis.
Moreover, tests on Vozrozhdeniya Island included the most potent recipes of weaponized smallpox.
Tested agents were dispersed by exploding bombs and through aerosol sprayers.
On and above the ground, detectors measured the level of pathogen dispersion.
Large animals like horses, donkeys, and sheep, and smaller animals like mice, guinea pigs,
and hamsters were brought to Vozrozhdeniye Island as test subjects. The Soviets even
imported hundreds of Hamadryas Baboons from Africa, species closely related to humans.
The test range was positioned on the southernmost part of the island, and since the winds blew from
north to south, all tested bio-agents ended up in the Aral sea. With the closest down-wind coastline
being 125 kilometers (77.6 miles) away, there was little risk that any pathogens would reach the
mainland. Additionally, no ship was allowed within a 40-kilometer (25 miles) perimeter
as a precaution. Really quick, I’d like
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Smallpox is one of the most terrible diseases known to man. It is highly contagious and attacks
membranes of the mouth, throat, and respiratory tract, from where it spreads through the entire
body. Victims then develop blisters across their whole body. On average, three out of every
ten that are infected die. In the 20th-century alone, smallpox killed up to 300 million people.
By the 1950s, the virus was eliminated in North America and Europe, but cases were still occurring
in South America, Asia, and Africa. In response, a massive vaccination program started in 1967.
Finally, the World Health Organization declared the world free of smallpox in 1980.
research journey. It reached the island's vicinity two weeks later, on July 30, allegedly entering
the restricted area and passing only 15 kilometers (9.3 miles) away from the island.
According to a Deputy Chief of the Red Army General Staff, General Pyotr Burgasov,
the Army was testing biological weapons at that time. Four hundred grams (0.88lbs) of
an “exclusive smallpox recipe” had just been dropped at the test range. The explosion
of the virus bomb spread the pathogen, reaching the biologist on Lev Berg’s deck.
On August 6, the biologist felt the first symptoms of the disease:
a fever accompanied by headache and muscle aches. Upon returning to Aralsk on August 11,
she immediately went home to be taken care of by her mother. A general practitioner who visited
her noted she had a high fever of 39 degrees Celsius (102.2 degrees Fahrenheit) and prescribed
her aspirin and antibiotics. After the fever broke, a rash appeared on her face, scalp, and
back. Luckily, she recovered quickly, primarily because she was vaccinated against smallpox.
Two weeks after the biologist came home, her younger brother fell ill. He, as well,
had a fever and a skin rash. His initial treatment included tetracycline antibiotics and aspirin,
but it didn’t stop the virus from spreading. At first, the physicians didn’t consider smallpox
because the Soviets eradicated it a decade ago. Eight more people got infected: six adults ages 24
to 60 and two children. A viral swab confirmed the presence of the smallpox virus. Antibody
tests performed in the Institute for Viral Preparations in Moscow also showed an increased
level of antibodies to smallpox. Interestingly, no other crew member from the Lev Berg got infected.
Of the ten infected residents, one adult and two less-than-a-year-old infants developed a highly
lethal hemorrhagic form of the disease and died. None of them were vaccinated against smallpox,
whereas the vaccinated marine biologist and remaining individuals recovered.
When General Burgasov heard of the infections, he knew the cause since he was familiar with
the test conducted at Aralsk-7. The General then informed the Chief of the General Staff
and asked that trains traveling from the Kazakh capital Alma-Ata to Moscow
should not be allowed to stop at Aralsk. The health authorities were quick to react
by completely sealing Aralsk. No one was allowed to enter or leave the town. A couple
of hundred residents who had direct contact with the virus were isolated in a tent city.
The entire population of nearly 50,000 was vaccinated in just two weeks. Five thousand square
meters (54,000 square feet) of living space and 18 metric tons of household goods were disinfected.
KGB Chief Yuri Andropov, who Burgasov informed of his doubts, ordered him not to speak to anyone
else about it. Disclosing the incident would have undoubtedly caused panic in the country.
More importantly, it would reveal the details of the Soviet top-secret biological weapons program.
The incident was circumstantial evidence that the virus had been enhanced and “hardened” to maintain
its infectivity after dispersion as an aerosol - even after traveling downwind over at least 15 km.
The Soviets perfected the airborne delivery of the virus by spreading it using aerial bombs — a far
more effective method than person-to-person transmission. In addition, many bio-agents
were genetically altered to resist heat, cold, and antibiotics in the following years.
The 1971 smallpox break incident was a lone case that resulted in minimal casualties,
even though there was an objective threat to infect the entire region.
Nevertheless, the secret facility continued testing biological weapons. Until its closure,
there were no records of similar incidents. Not officially, that is.
A year after the 1971 incident, two fishermen went missing. Their bodies were found in the
boat drifting in the middle of the Aral Sea. They were suspected of dying from the plague. Then,
in May 1988, 50,000 Saiga Antelopes died in a short period. The cause of death remained unknown.
Both incidents remain shrouded in mystery, especially after the signing of the convention.
On April 10, 1972, the Soviet Union signed and agreed to completely ban
“microbial or other biological agents, or toxins whatever their origin or method of production,
of types and in quantities that have no justification for prophylactic,
protective or other peaceful purposes; [and on] weapons, equipment or means of delivery.”
Seventy-seven other countries signed the convention, including the United States.
However, the Soviets doubted the United States’ compliance with the convention
and subsequently ramped up their biowarfare program. It became a massive effort with dozens
of secret sites employing up to 65,000 people. The Aralsk-7 facility continued its work until
the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. By that time, the water level of the Aral Sea had
dropped drastically after its water supply had been re-routed to irrigate fields.
Therefore, the island grew ten times in size and became a peninsula connected to the mainland.
The former island's territory is split between Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, two countries that
declared independence from the Soviet Union. In November 1991, the Aralsk-7 facility was
officially closed. The entire infrastructure was abandoned,
including the village of Kantubek, which became a ghost town. What’s left behind are cache pits
with anthrax slurry and mass graveyards with the infected remains of thousands of test animals.
As was the case in 1971, residents still stay clear of the site. It only reminds them of a time
when a devastating secret weapon nearly wiped them out.
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