Вил Мирзаянов - State Secrets - An Insider's Chronicle of the Russian Chemical Weapons Program

Before the Chemical Weapons Convention is considered by the committee I think it would be appropriate for the administration to make its position on this matter clearly known to us and to report on any efforts it has made, both with regard to Dr. Mirzayanov’s case and the broader more serious allegations concerning Russia’s chemical weapons program. In particular, it would be important to know on what legal grounds the United States or the international community could take action to address this problem, if Dr. Mirzayanov’s assertions are found to be credible.

President Clinton will be meeting with President Yeltsin in January. Would you not think it appropriate to raise this issue at that time? I look forward to hearing your views.

Sincerely,

Daniel Patrick Moynihan”

Letter of Dr. Wolfgang Hirschwald a professor of Berlin Free University, on behalf of the International Network of Engineers and Scientists for Global Responsibility (INES), the largest association of scientists in Germany and Western countries to Frederico Mayor, the Director General of UNESCO, December 27, 1993.

Dear Mr. Mayor,

On behalf of the German Scientists Initiative “Responsibility for the Peace” e.V. I should like to inform you about the situation of a russian colleague. It is the chemist, Dr. Vil Mirzayanov , who worked for the Government Research Center for Organic Chemistry and Technology (GOSNIIOKhT) in Moscow until end of January this year. Dr. Mirzayanov informed in 1991 the Lord Mayor of Moscow and thereafter in 1992 the russian public (via the journal Moscow News) about research on and development of highly toxic binary chemical weapons (8 to 10 times more toxic than the US nerve-poison VX!) in his institute and about testing of these weapons in two test areas (Saratov and Uzbekistan). Dr. M. also pointed out in his publication, that the amount of this supertoxic nerve-poison stored in his institute constituted a high danger for the environment and for the citizens of Moscow.

In October 1992 Dr. M. was arrested by the Russian Ministry of Security (former KGB), imprisoned for 11 days in the Lefortovo-Prison in Moscow and interrogated there all the time. On November 1 st, 1992 Dr. M. was released from the Lefortovo-Prison, but since he has to report to the Ministry of Security frequently, he is not allowed to leave the City of Moscow, criminal proceedings are initiated against him – being charged with “divulging state secrets” – and he is examined since then nearly every day. At the end of January this year, Dr. M. was dismissed from his job at the Moscow Institute.

The trial will probably start in December 1993 or in January 1994. It will be, most probably, a closed trial . But what is even more severe is the fact, that the judgment and accusation will be based on an ordinance, issued on March 30, 1993, i.e. five months after the prosecution was initiated! (see enclosure I).

This is in contradiction to any legal procedure in democratic states. From both facts one must expect, that this trial will not be a fair and legal trial based on the principles of the Charter of the United Nations.

So, we ask the UNESCO and its Commission on Human Rights to send a protest to the Russian Government and to the General Prosecutor of Russia, Mr. Alexei Kazannik (address: see enclosure II) with respect to the procedure and ask them to quash the whole trial.

Furthermore we want to stress, that Dr. M. did not publish any chemical or technical details concerning the composition of the new chemical weapons nor the production process. So, he did not divulge any state secrets!

In view of the UN Convention on Chemical Weapons (CWC), signed in Paris January of 1993, Dr. M. informed the international public, that in Moscow research is still performed on super-toxic binary chemical weapons (these facts were denied by the Russian Government) and that the CW’s as well as and their precursors are not listed in any of the three schedules of chemicals attached to the final draft of the Chemical Weapons Convention, nor are they included in the list of chemicals prohibited for export from Russia (again, he gave no chemical or technical details!).

From these facts one must question the seriousness of the Russian Government to fulfill the CWC, and two dangerous developments of international dimension and importance arise:

1) the possibility to circumvent the CWC,

2) the enhanced probability of CW proliferation.

We, nearly one thousand scientists of the Initiative in Germany and more than one hundred thousand international colleagues of the International Network of Engineers and Scientists for Global Responsibility (INES) are deeply concerned about this situation. We are firmly convinced, that Dr. Mirzayanov acted highly responsible and in full agreement with the UNESCO -Recommendations on the Status (in jail) would constitute a severe violation of human rights.

So, again we ask you to observe the development and to intervene in favor of Dr. Vil Mirzayanov and in order to consolidate of the CWC.

Thank you!

Sincerely,

Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Hirschwald

P.s. Facts and details submitted here do not only stem from the press, but were confirmed by Dr. Mirzayanov and his wife personally. Members of the Initiative visited Dr. M. three times this year in Moscow and his wife stayed in Germany for one week with our Initiative in October this year.

Letter of the American Association for the Advancement of Science to the President Boris Yeltsin, March 30, 1993

Dear Mr. President:

On behalf of the Committee on Scientific Freedom and Responsibility of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), I am writing to express our deep concern about the situation of Russian chemist Vil Mirzayanov. Dr. Vil Mirzayanov and a colleague, Lev Fedorov, also a chemist, wrote an article, which was published in Moscow News on 20 September 1992, revealing information about the development of chemical weapons in Moscow and the possible environmental hazards posed to the local population by such research. The two men also participated in an interview published in the Baltimore Sun , a U.S. newspaper. Following these events the two men were arrested and their apartments were searched. Although Dr. Fedorov was released after questioning, Dr. Mirzayanov faces prosecution for allegedly divulging state secrets and violating an agreement not to reveal secret information that he signed at his place of employment, the State Union Scientific Research Institute for Organic Chemistry and Technology.

According to information the Committee has received, neither Dr. Mirzayanov nor his lawyer has been allowed to see the formal charges against Dr. Mirzayanov. This appears to violate Article 10 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which states that “Everyone is entitled in full equality to a fair and public hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal, in the determination of his rights and obligations and of any criminal charge against him.”

Our Committee believes that Dr. Mirzayanov, as a scientist with special knowledge about the hazards of chemicals released into the environment, has acted in a manner consistent with his professional responsibility to bring forth information about the potential or real dangers of such research. Furthermore, given the Russian participation in negotiations for a Chemical Weapons Convention, the prosecution of Dr. Mirzayanov for revealing information about the development of a binary nerve gas would appear to contradict the spirit of the Convention. The recent corroboration of another chemist, Vladimir Uglev, of Dr. Mirzayanov’s account lends weight to the seriousness of Dr. Mirzayanov’s report.