Russia’s Dirty Chemical Secret

Russia’s Dirty Chemical Secret
 
By Cliff Kincaid
 
A poison or nerve agent known as Novichok has been implicated in the attempted murder of Russian ex-spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in Britain, and the poisoning of Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny.
 
 Prime Minister Theresa May said

It is now clear that Mr Skripal and his daughter were poisoned with a military-grade nerve agent of a type developed by Russia. This is part of a group of nerve agents known as 'Novichok'.
 
I wrote about Novichok back in 1995 for the American Legion Magazine in an article, “Russia’s Dirty Chemical Secret.” Click here to read it. 

My article notes the evidence that this new class of poisons that may have been transferred to Iraq for use against American forces in the Gulf War.
 
My article goes on:
 
The Soviets have long been interested in the use of poisons, Pavel Sudoplatov, deputy director of foreign intelligence of the NKVD (later called KGB), reveals in his book, Special Tasks , the existence of a poison laboratory, called "Lab X" as far back as 1937. The lab developed poisons used to assassinate enemies of Moscow at home and aboard.
 
But poisons are also useful against groups of people, even nations. Oleg Penkovsky, a Soviet military intelligence officer considered the greatest spy to serve the West since World War II, provided detailed reports to US officials about the vast Soviet chemical warfare program during the early 1960s.
 
The British government had previously released a report into the role of the Russian government in the death of former KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko in London. Litvinenko was murdered most likely because he exposed KGB training of al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri. ISIS is a spin-off from al Qaeda.

There is a body of evidence indicating that the Russians themselves are continuing a massive biological weapons program in violation of a 1972 treaty outlawing such weapons.