The 1971 Aralsk-7 Smallpox Incident

[Webster]

The in-depth story of the 1971 Aralsk-7 Smallpox Incident in the Soviet Union.

The Aralsk-7 facility at Vozrozhdeniye Island was anything but ordinary. There were no reports of loud explosions, rocket launches, or the usual that one might expect from the mighty Red Army. Instead, it was home to a secret biological weapon testing site.

At the biolab scientists and military personnel carried out pathogen tests that cause feared diseases like anthrax, tularemia, brucellosis, Q-fever, and Venezuelan equine encephalitis. Moreover, tests on Vozrozhdeniya Island included the most potent recipes of weaponized smallpox. Tested bioweapons were dispersed by exploding bombs and through aerosol sprayers. On and above the ground, detectors measured the level of pathogen dispersion.