Chemical and Petrochemical Industry
6/01342 April 5, 1993
The Investigation Department of the Ministry of Security of the Russian Federation is investigating the criminal case of Vil Sultanovich Mirzayanov, a former employee at the State Russian Science Research Institute for Organic Chemistry and Technology (GRNIIOKhT), who is charged with committing a crime under Article 75, Part 1, of the RSFSR Criminal Code. It was established during the investigation that in 1992 Mirzayanov disclosed information to the mass media that constitutes a state secret about the creation of a new chemical agent and the development of a binary system based on it being created at GRNIIOKhT, by order of the Ministry of Defense.
In connection with this, please inform us if the General Staff Headquarters of the RF Armed Forces has any information at its disposal (underlined by me—V.M.) about Mirzayanov’s above-mentioned actions having any negative consequences for the defensive capabilities of Russia.
Head of the Department
Major General
S.D. Balashov
Annex 51
Secret
Copy N. 1
Russian Federation
Committee for
Chemical and Petrochemical Industry
To S.D. Balashov, Head of the
Investigation Department at the
Ministry of Security of
The Russian Federation
10185
Tsentr, ul. Myasnitskaya, 20
April 13, 1993, N 629 s in response to N 6/ 01342 of April 5, 1993
According to the evaluation of the specialists from the Committee for Chemical and Petrochemical Industry, V. S. Mirzayanov’s publications in the mass media caused moral and economic damage, along with disclosing top secret information. After these publications, part of the world and the Russian public started to doubt that the production of chemical weapons had been discontinued in Russia as our government had claimed in 1987. Since the people who live in the regions where the plants are located that produced chemical weapons in the past were misinformed, it is creating a tense situation around these enterprises; in particular an example of this is the rejection of the proposal to carry out the destruction of chemical weapons on the premises of the Cheboksary PO Khimprom. As a result, this [suggested] placement threatens to disrupt Russia’s fulfillment of its international agreements on the destruction of the stockpiles of chemical weapons, and also the program for the destruction of chemical weapons will entail sharply higher costs because the Cheboksary PO Khimprom can’t be used for this purpose.
Concerning, evaluating the negative consequences of Mirzayanov’s actions for the defensive capability of Russia, this question is outside the competence of the Committee for Chemical and Petrochemical Industry.
Chairman
V.P. Ivanov
Annex 52
Secret
Copy N 2
To G.V. Berdennikov,
Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the
Russian Federation
6/01343/April 5, 1993
The Investigation Department of the RF Ministry of Security is investigating the criminal case in which Vil Sultanovich Mirzayanov, a former employee at the State Russian Science Research Institute for Organic Chemistry and Technology (GRNIIOKhT), is charged with committing a crime stipulated by Article 75, Part 1, of the RSFSR Criminal Code. It was established during the investigation that in 1992 Mirzayanov disclosed information to the mass media that constitutes a state secret about the creation of a new chemical agent and the development of a binary system based on it at GRNIIOKhT at request of the Ministry of Defense. In connection with this, please inform us if the MID [Ministry of Foreign Affairs] of Russia has any information about any kind of negative consequences to the political or any other interests of the Russian Federation that resulted from Mirzayanov’s above-mentioned actions.
Head of the Department
S.D. Balashov
Annex 53
Secret
Copy N 1
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Of the Russian Federation
121200, Moscow, G-200
32/34 Smolensko-Sennaya Pl.
Tel. 244-16-06
May 11, 1993 N 61/drk
To S.D. Balashov, Head of the
Investigation Department at the RF
Ministry of Security
In response to 6/01343 of April 5, 1993
In connection with your inquiry into the case of V. S. Mirzayanov, the RF Ministry of Foreign Affairs can respond in the following way.
Currently it has become impossible to determine what generated a greater resonance in the country and abroad – the publications of Vil S. Mirzayanov or the fact that criminal proceedings were instituted against him on charges of disclosure of state secrets, since it was the latter that was perceived as confirmation of the information contained in these publications.
The RF MID has no information at its disposal about the authenticity of the information mentioned in the articles or about what the extent of the damage was to our national security as a consequence of the investigation of the disclosure of information about the development of binary chemical weapons.
Nevertheless, we can verify that the campaign in the Russian and foreign mass media that developed in connection with V. S. Mirzayanov’s case served as the basis of the expression of concern on the part of the U.S., and requests arose for clarification of the situation. The U.S. National Academy of Sciences appealed personally to the RF President on this issue. However, no one has observed that our relations with the U.S. and other countries have become complicated so far. During the top-level Russian-American meeting in Vancouver it was noted that progress was achieved at the bilateral negotiations between Russian and U.S. on the prohibition of chemical weapons.
With respect,
Deputy Minister
G. Berdennikov
Annex 54
We are distributing the text of the statement of President B. N. Yeltsin of the Russian Federation on the issue of chemical weapons.
Statement made by the President of the Russian
Federation on the issue of the destruction of chemical weapons
In the past few months the public in a number of regions has been seriously concerned about the issue of the destruction of chemical weapons.
In the preceding decades, tens of thousands of tons of military chemical agents have been produced and stockpiled in Russia. The world has changed, and Russia’s position in the world has changed: we are not going to attack anybody. The time has come to rid ourselves of chemical weapons which we have inherited from the past legacy. This is not only Russia’s view, but also the opinion shared by the one hundred and thirty eight countries which have signed the Convention on the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons this year in Paris.
We must begin the destruction of chemical weapons, proceeding from the requirements not only of international, but also of national security; as the shells and containers are steadily deteriorating and can’t be stored indefinitely. These weapons were produced over the course of many years at several plants. The destruction process will be difficult and a substantial period of time will be required for its implementation. However, it has to be started. A government program for the destruction of chemical weapons is currently being prepared. It will be based upon the following principles: