Eye Spy - May 2018

EYE SPY INTELLIGENCE MAGAZINE 115 2018 9

Alexander Litvinenko and Boris Berezovsky. Based in the UK, both

men were opponents of the Kremlin who lived perilous lives

© YURI FELSHTINSKY

programme was revealed by defectors who

fled to the US including Vil Mirzayanov, a

chemical weapons developer.

Dr Mirzayanov said as many as 40,000 people

worked on the VX programme and at least

1,000 on Novichoks specifically. “Novichok

was invented and studied and experimented

Sergei Skripal - former GRU military

intelligence officer and MI6 agent

Sarov - location of the

VNIIEF-Federal Nuclear

Centre and Avangard

Electromechanical Plant

and likely production facility

THE SECRET SAROV AVANGARD PLANT

used to manufacture the VX agent used in

the attack on the Skripals.

Sarov is a closed town in Nizhny

Novgorod Oblast, Russia, formerly known

as Arzamas-16 from 1946 to 1991. Until

1995, it was known as Kremlyov. The

town is designated ‘closed’ due to the

nuclear research conducted here. Many

of its residents are attached to the plant.

During the protracted inquiry and

investigation into the death of Alexander

Litvinenko, his legal team said that a

private researcher hired by the family

claimed to have traced the source of the

deadly Polonium-210 used in his demise,

to the Avangard Electromechanical Plant.

In more recent times, a super-computer

located at a Russian nuclear research

facility in Sarov was reportedly targeted

by two site engineers who wanted to use

it to mine cryptocurrencies. “There has

been an attempt of unsanctioned use of

workplace computing capacities for

personal gain, including for so-called

mining,” the press service of the Sarov

nuclear weapons facility explained. The

statement said the employees involved

had been arrested and are facing criminal

charges.

[with] and many tonnes were produced only in

Russia - nobody knew in this world,”

Mirzayanov said. He argues that only the

Kremlin would have the capability to deploy

this particular agent.

Dr Patricia Lewis, Research Director for

International Security at London-based think

tank Chatham House, said Novichoks could be

identified because they have distinct chemical

formulae. “There could be contaminants that

would give away where it has come from,”

she said, adding that high-resolution trace

analysis could detect pollen and other clues.

British UN Ambassador Jonathan Allen, said

Novichok was not a weapon which can be

manufactured by non-state actors. “It is so

dangerous that it requires the highest-grade

state laboratories and expertise,” he said.

“Based on the knowledge that Russia has

previously produced this agent and combined

with Russia’s record of conducting state

sponsored assassinations - including against

former intelligence officers whom they regard

Porton Down gateway as legitimate targets - the UK Government

Ambassador Jonathan Allen blames Russia

in a speech delivered at the United Nations

Tsar Bombe (casing) - NATO reporting

name of the Soviet hydrogen bomb on

display at the Museum of Sarov