Zilinskas receives grant to study biological weapons programs of Former Soviet Union

December 24, 1997 --- As Russia helps guide negotiations to set the terms for inspection of biological weapons programs in Iraq, what is the extent of Russia's own activity in biological weapons?

That's the topic of a new, intensive research project at the University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute, which has been approved for funding by a private foundation.

UMBI's Dr. Raymond Zilinskas, an associate professor with the Center for Public Issues in Biotechnology, and Milton Leitenberg, senior fellow, Center for International and Security Studies at the University of Maryland, are co-principal investigators.

Titled "The Former Soviet Union's Biological and Toxin Warfare Program: Assessing its Proliferation Potential," the project will fill the information gap that now exists regarding the FSU's biological warfare (BW) program. Even though that program was to have been dissolved, the United States government has concerns about part of it continuing in Russia, in violation of the 1972 Biological and Toxic Weapons Convention. Further, experts who operated the program might offer their services to rogue governments and terrorist organizations.

The research project will attempt to determine whether that is indeed the case and will assess the extent to which such activity, inadvertently or not, could be used to threaten the security of the West. Zilinskas said the research team will augment the available analytical capabilities in the U.S. and the West to study the FSU's weapons of mass destruction programs.

"U.S. government agencies are conducting no unclassified projects of this nature, and our research will cast light on the extent of the problem," Zilinskas said. "If a BW program continues in Russia, it could cause substantial problems for future administrations. Our findings will help legislators and security specialists who are working to counter and control the international proliferation of biological weapons.

Budgeted at $268,400, the project will take place over a two-year period. An interim project report and a book slated for commercial publication will report on the results of the project.