The termination of my case was also the cause of a pleasant episode at one of the sessions of U.S. Senate on March 15th.[367]
I did not have enough time to give journalists interviews or to answer the telephone calls. Not only famous people congratulated me, but also many that I hadn’t known of before.
Gale Colby called from Princeton to let me know that I was awarded the distinguished 1994 Heinz R. Pagels Rights of Scientists Award of the New York Academy of Sciences, “in recognition of his courage and his singular demonstration of the moral responsibility of individual scientists in upholding the integrity of scientific knowledge in an emerging democratic society”. Professor Joshua Lederberg, a Nobel Prize laureate (who Gale only half-jokingly dubbed as “one of the gods of science”), and the President of the NYAS, called to confirm this and congratulated me.
The famous philanthropist and billionaire George Soros and another renowned Nobel Prize laureate James Watson awarded me the distinguished prize at a reception in the Radisson-Slavyanskaya Hotel, located near the Kiev Railway Station in Moscow. Mostly it was Americans who accompanied George Soros on his trip across Russia, who were present at the ceremony.
Was I happy? I can say I definitely was. My head was full of sunshine. Despite that, almost none of the problems that I raised have yet been solved. Novichok was unmasked then, and there was no real chance for that yet. My personal problems were also mounting, no job, and no real opportunities. I was still a Russian secret-bearer, and because of that, I didn’t have any chance to go abroad and to try to start my new life. Simultaneously I was defiant and recalcitrant, yet full of energy to struggle for my future…
GLOSSARY
AAAS — American Association for the Advancement of Science
A-208
O-i-C4H9
D
CH3-P=O Substance 33
\
S-CH2-CH2-N(C2H5)2
A-230
F
/
CH3-P=O Substance 84
\
N=C(CH3)-N(C2H5)2
A-232
F
D
CH3O-P=O A-232
\
N=C(CH3)-N(C2H5)2
A-234
F
D
C2H5O-P=O A-234
\
N=C(CH3)-N(C2H5)2
A-242
F
D
CH3-P=O A-242
\
N=C-N(R)2,where R – diethyl radical
\
N(R)2
A-262
F
D
CH3O-P=O A-262
\
N=C-N(R)2, where R – diethyl radical
\
N(R)2
A-235 — Russian code name of sarin
A-255 — Russian code name of soman
Complex ether — GOSNIIOKhT’s code name of Substance 33
C.P.S.U — Communist Party of the Soviet Union
CW — Chemical weapon
CWC — Chemical Weapons Convention
DDR — Democratic Russia Movement
FAPSI — Federal Agency for Government Communications and Information
FAS — Federation of American Scientists
Foliant — Soviet/Russian nerve agents program
FSB — Federal Service of Security
GC — Gas chromatograph(ic)
GOSNIIOKhT — State Scientific Research Institute of Organic Chemistry and Technology
GRNIIOKhT — State Russian Scientific Research Institute of Organic Chemistry and Technology
GRU — General Intelligence Directorate of the Soviet (Russian) Army
K-410 — Russian code name of CS-tear gas
K-444 — Russian code name of SR-tear gas
KGB — Committee of State Security
Khoryok — Russian binary chemical weapon program
M-01 — GOSNIIOKhT code name of Substance 33
M-02 — GOSNIIOKhT code name of sarin
M-03 — GOSNIIOKhT code name of soman
MB RF — Ministry of Security of the Russian Federation
MCAD — Military Academy of Chemical Defense
Military Unit 64518 — Directorate of Chief of Chemical Troops of Russia
Military Unit 61469 — Scientific Research Military Institute and Independent Chemical Battalion in Shikhany-2
Military Unit 26382 — Scientific Research Military Polygon and Independent Chemical Battalion in Nukus, Uzbekistan
MITKhT — Moscow Institute of Fine Chemical Technology
NII — Scientific Research Institute
NII-42 — Former code name of GOSNIIOKhT
NII-94 — Former code name of GOSNIIOKhT
NIOKR — Scientific Research Experiment Design Work
NKVD — People’s Commissiariat for Internal Affairs
Nomenklatura — the top of the elite ruling class or bureaucrats in the Soviet Union
Novichok — Soviet/Russian nerve agents program
Novichok-5 — Russian binary weapons program for A-232
NPO Basalt — Scientific Industrial Association for warfare design
OKBA — Special Design Bureau of Automation
OMON — Special Purpose Police Detachment
Ordoval-1 — GOSNIIOKhT code name of sarin
Ordoval-2 — GOSNIIOKhT code name of soman
Post Office Box — Part of code name of all secret scientific research institutes
Post Office Box 702 — Former code name of GOSNIIOKhT
Post Office Box M-5123 — Code name of GOSNIIOKhT for business mailing
Ppt — Part per trillion
R-33 — Russian code name of analog of Substance 33
R-35 — Russian code name of sarin
R-55 — Russian code name of soman
Sharashka — Prison for scientists-political prisoners
S — Secret
SS — Top secret
SS/khf — Top secret/ Foliant program
Substance 33 — Russian code name of VX-analog
Substance 65 — Russian code name of CS-tear gas
Substance 74 — Russian code name of CR-tear gas
367
Congressional Record. Proceedings and Debates of the 103d Congress, First Session. March 15, 1994, v. 140, N 28. S. 2958.