Poison maker Novičiok: “It’s a weapon of terror”

Germany said on Wednesday that it had been officially established that Russian opposition activist A. Navaln had been poisoned with material from the same group that possesses the nerve paralyzing substance Novičiok.

Medical tests carried out at the German Military Chemical Weapons Laboratory provided “clear evidence” that A. Navaln had been exposed to combat nerve paralysis by the Novičiok group.

Doctors reported that A. Navalnas is still in a drug-induced coma, he is connected to an artificial lung ventilator, but there is no danger to life, the signs of intoxication are decreasing. However, doctors warn that A. Navalnas’ recovery will be long and the consequences for his health are still very difficult to predict.

AFP / Scanpix photo / Russian chemist Vilas Mirzajanov, who was the first to reveal the existence of paralyzing substances of the nerves Novičiok

V.Mirzajanov from 1965. to 1992 worked at the State Research Institute for Organic Chemistry and Technology, which was supervised by the Soviet Ministry of Military Industry and the KGB. According to him, the material А-230, which became the first material of the Novičiok group, was created in the early eighties. V. Mirzajanov spoke for the first time about the creation of toxic substances called the Novičiok group in the Soviet Union in 1992.

In an interview with Radio Svoboda, V. Mirzajanov explained how the poisonings of A. Navalnas and Skripaliai differ, why other people did not suffer this time, and what fate awaits A. Navalnas if he regains consciousness.

Why did only A. Navalnas suffer?

Radio Svoboda remembers that in 2018. The use of Novičiok in Britain, which tried to poison Sergei and Julia Skripalius, has caused great harm to the environment and people. The cloths survived, but a Briton was found dead in the park and opened a bottle of discarded perfume that contained the poison. The Skripaliai house and surrounding dwellings were also disinfected. Why was there none of that in the case of the A. Navaln poisoning?

AFP / Photo by Scanpix / Officials in Salisbury, where Skripal’s lives were attacked

According to V. Mirzajanov, if the poison entered A.Navnas’ body through the stomach, they could be harmless to the people around him.

“How these poisons are used is important. Sergei and Julia Skripals were poisoned through their skin when the material that had been stained on the door handle fell into their hands.

In the case of A. Navaln, “Novičiok” probably entered the gastrointestinal tract. It seems to me that this time another version of Novičiok was used: А-261. Instead of an amide group, they attached guanidine to the Novičiok molecule. This was done by Piotr Kirpichiov, the author of Novičiok. First, it increased the toxicity of the substance by almost 10 times compared to that used in Salisbury. Second, it is already a solid material. It can be mixed with sugar, put it in a tea bag. “A few milligrams are enough for a person poisoned with this substance to die,” said the scientist.

It may never be the same again

When asked why A. Navaln survived then, he considered: “Maybe so much material was used to keep him from dying. It may be that the goal is not to kill, but to damage health for the rest of your life. “

Mirzayanov said he was not aware of any case of a person making a full recovery after being intoxicated with organic phosphorous war toxins: “People who were exposed to these substances in Soviet times would never work again.”

The scientist doubts that doctors can give A. Navalns back the life he has lived until now. Acetylcholine (a mediator of the parasympathetic nervous system is responsible for transmitting brain impulses to the organs. As a result, a person sees, digests food, moves his muscles, etc. Meanwhile, the poison from which he is affected A. Navaln destroys this organic compound.This means that some These links can be irretrievably destroyed or partially destroyed.

What does that material look like?

V. Mirzajanov claimed that if his assumption about the substance that A. Navalnas had poisoned was correct, it was completely harmless to those around him.

“It just came to our knowledge then. If they were put into a tea bag (A. Navalno’s colleagues claimed that the morning he was in a coma on the plane, he only drank tea in the airport cafeteria, ed.). will tell. For whoever made it, this substance is also harmless. You could take it out and put it in the tea bag with your own hands, “said the scientist.

True, he said he had not seen what the A-261 material looked like. But I guess it might look like a fuck.

Still feel guilty

Radio Svoboda asked the scientist how he felt when, two years after the Skripaliai poisoning, he learned that A. Navalnas was also poisoned with the Novičiok group’s material.

“As a person who contributed to the creation of Novičiok, I always feel that it is part of my fault in such cases. It is very bad for me for that. I never thought that what we created, to whom we sacrifice our time and skills, would become a weapon of terror. However, we thought this was necessary for the defense of the country. Later, I realized that it was simply a weapon of mass destruction that killed people who could not protect themselves. Not soldiers, but peaceful people. soldiers can always wear gas masks or protective suits and there will be nothing even after the Novičiok attack. But even when I realized it, I did not think there would be access to it. It is very low, “said V. Mirzajanov.