The Soviet Biological Weapons Program - Deadly Cultures: Biological Weapons Since 1945 - page 138

cal, and Biological Defense Forces Command. 30 A limited number of per-
sonnel with BW-related expertise also began work in the Presidential
Committee on Problems of the Chemical and Biological Weapon Conven-
tions, established by Yeltsin in 1992. 31 The committee was established
at least partly in response to problems associated with the Russian Feder-
ation's compliance with the BWC. In May 1999 the committee and its
responsibilities were taken over by the newly established Munitions
Agency. In 2004 the Munitions Agency was incorporated into the Federal
Agency on Industry (which is subordinate to the Ministry of Industry and
Energy). 32
Key political bodies involved in the Soviet BW program included the
Central Committee of the Soviet Communist Party, the Politburo, and the
Council of Ministers. Perhaps the key body on BW matters within the
Central Committee was the Defense Department (not to be confused
with the Ministry of Defense). 33 A variety of ministries participated in the
program, including the KGB, the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of
Chemical Industry, the Ministry of External Trade, the Ministry of Health,
and the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Military officers played an influential
role, holding seats in the Politburo and Central Committee. Scientific ex-
pertise, including that related to BW, was provided by the Science Depart-
ment of the Soviet Communist Party Central Committee, while the Mili-
tary-Industrial Commission was answerable to the Council of Ministers.
Numerous civilian scientific and technical bodies, including the Soviet
Academy of Sciences, the Soviet Academy of Medical Sciences, the Min-
istry of Health, the Anti-Plague Department institutes, and university de-
partments were also directly or indirectly involved.
The major BW field-test facility was Vozrozdeniye Island, located in the
Aral Sea. This island was identified as the location for the Bacteriological
Institute and Proving Ground for Bacteriological Weapons by the 1951
Hirsch Report. 34 A 1965 CIA analysis of whether the island had a BW test
facility found that the evidence, while suggestive, was inconclusive. 35 To-
day the island is the focus of some US cooperative threat reduction pro-
gram funding.
There were four key research facilities: the All-Union Scientific Re-
search Institute of Applied Microbiology (at Obolensk, near Moscow);
NPO “Vector” (in Kol'stovo, Novosibirsk Region; later renamed the State