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

In their appeal they stressed that “future generations of mankind will be grateful to a scientist who bravely supported in the press the draft of the convention for the prohibition, development, production, stockpiling, and use of chemical weapons, and for the destruction of chemical weapons…” At the end of their appeal the authors expressed confidence that “humanism and respectability will prevail in the Russian leadership, and Vil S. Mirzayanov, a member of the board of “Tugan tel,” will be free on that glorious day.”

For me the biggest surprise was the support I received from the democratic deputies of the RF Supreme Soviet. Deputy Valery F. Menshikov, Head Deputy of the Committee for Energy, Natural Resources, and Ecology, was especially energetic. He spoke at a meeting of the Chamber of the Republics, and called for a notice about the question of the illegal arrest of Mirzayanov to be included in the agenda of the regular meeting of the RF Supreme Soviet. Nikolai Ryabov, Chairman of the chamber, put this suggestion to a vote and the chamber made a decision to include this question on the agenda of the meeting of the Supreme Soviet. According to the regulations, the decision by one of the chamber houses to discuss some question automatically included this question in the agenda of the meeting of the RF Supreme Soviet but its Chairman Ruslan Khasbulatov did everything to block the appeal. [146] “Transcript of one Meeting”, Moscow News , November 15, 1992.

Finally, 35 deputies of the Supreme Soviet sent an official inquiry to V. G. Stepankov, the Attorney General of Russia asking to have the grounds and legitimacy of the proceedings that were instituted against me evaluated. They also asked him “to explain your official position regarding the resolution of the Committee of Constitutional Supervision at the USSR Supreme Soviet, according to which all unpublished secret departmental regulations have become invalidated. ”

Apart from Valery Menshikov, the following people’s deputies signed the inquiry: L. Ponomarev, G. Zadonsky, V. Volkov, L. Gurevich, S. Zasukhin, Gorelov, M. Salie, N. Surkov, V. Urazhtsev, V. Sheinis, N. Yakimenko, A. Kopeika, V. Vermchuk, N. Vershinin, V. Komchatov, A. Shabad, M. Molostvov, S. Sirotkin, V. Varov, S. Yushenkov, G. Yakunin, A. Nasokhin, Yu. Luchinsky, K. Evtushenko, S. Umetskaya, R. Gun, B. Denisenko, Yu. Khrulev, V. Varukhin, Yu. Eltsov, S. Shestov, and S. Kovalev.

The answer came in December 18, 1992 from Deputy Attorney General Ivan S. Zemlyanushin. He stated “ Criminal proceedings were instituted against Vil S. Mirzayanov based on Article 75 of the RSFSR Criminal Code and in accordance with a functioning decree issued by the president of the Russian Federation, N 20 dated January 14, 1992 “About protecting state secrets of the Russian Federation,” according to which until new legislative acts are issued that will regulate the safekeeping of state secrets of the Russian Federation, we should be guided by the normative acts adopted in the past on this issue.

The proceedings were instituted without any violation of the law.”

Unfortunately nobody asked why this decree is a secret and wasn’t published.

After this letter, it finally became clear that the authorities would judge me by the rules of the totalitarian regime.

Despite all the obstructions, my lawyer Aleksander Asnis followed his clearly outlined plan. This included an attempt to have the sub-legal acts and secret lists of secrets acknowledged as null and void. We were playing to gain time, and could benefit only from dragging the investigation procedure out as long as possible. It was very tough for me, but the main point was that I was free and could endure those hardships.

Nonetheless, it soon began to get on my nerves. The investigator just ignored all of our petitions aimed at a full and objective investigation of the case.

At first, the prospects for the plan we had outlined seemed pretty good. Asnis was negotiating with the RF Supreme Soviet, with the heads of the Committee on Human Rights and the Committee on Legislative Matters. According to procedure, if two committees make a similar decision on a particular problem, it practically becomes the decision of the Supreme Soviet. The Committee for Human Rights had made the decision that the resolution passed by the U.S.S.R. Committee on Constitutional Supervision, which invalidated unpublished sub-legal acts, was lawful. My lawyer also had an agreement with the deputy head of the Committee for Legislative Matters about a similar decision; however, Professor Mintyukov, the chairman of that committee, returned from his vacation and didn’t agree to make such a decision. His primary concern was that such a decision might create problems for his career.

According to our plan for the defense, at an interrogation on December 1, 1992, which lasted for only 25 minutes, I repeated my previous position that I couldn’t name my candidates for the expert commission until I was shown the lists of secrets. I informed the investigator that I would again appeal his refusal to show me these normative acts.

Apparently, Shkarin realized that he wouldn’t receive any new information from me. So he didn’t summon me for interrogation for almost a month and a half, and refocused all his efforts on trying to get “damning evidence” from other people, and on trying to have his version confirmed by the expert commission.

On November 24, 1992 Captain Shkarin called in Dr. Natalya Godzhello for an interrogation. The results of this interrogation were disappointing for the interrogator. Natalya stated “…I think that Mirzayanov didn’t disclose any state secrets in publishing information about the creation of a new chemical agent and the development and testing of binary weapons, because he didn’t indicate either the class of the compound or its chemical formula, the method of its synthesis, or the technology and equipment used for its synthesis, or the initial precursors from which it is produced. In my opinion, specific concrete information constitutes a state secret, the disclosure of which could allow another state to create the same compound. I think that Mirzayanov published this article, guided by the best intentions, in order to rule out the possibility of an arms race in the area of chemical weapons.” [147] “Transcript of the interrogation of the witness N.M. Godzhello”, November 24, 1992. Investigation Department of MB RF. Case 62, vol. 1, pp.262-266. Top Secret.

The interrogation of my former deputy, Svyatoslav Sokolov, also proved to be disappointing for Investigator Shkarin. He only stated that “…We took samples of water, air, and solid waste for research both on the institute grounds and at the Volgograd PO Khimprom, where compounds developed at the institute were produced. Mirzayanov personally went to Volgograd to introduce his techniques, which was why he knew the place of the production of chemical agents very well … ” [148] “Transcript of interrogation of the witness S.S. Sokolov”, January 14, 1993. Investigation Department of MB RF, Case 62, vol. 1, pp. 271-273. Top Secret.

Even during the investigation with the trial pending, I wasn’t going to put an end to my activities directed against chemical weapons. At my request Andrei Zheleznyakov gave an interview to the magazine Novoe Vremya . [149] See ref. 40. I also gave an interview to this magazine about the danger of testing chemical weapons on the open test site, because the remnants of chemical agents adsorb to dust particles which travel great distances, and can damage people’s health. [150] Vil Mirzayanov, “Testing of Chemical Weapons: Thoughtlessness or Crime”, Novoe Vremya , N 50, December of 1992.