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A Russian chemical weapons warehouse in Saratov in 2000 (file image). Bild: AP / AP
Novichok: what you need to know about the Russian assassin
It is one of the deadliest neurotoxins, causes a gruesome death, and originally came from Soviet laboratories – Novichok. Now Putin’s opponent, Alexei Navalny, has been poisoned with it.
Russian Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny has been in a coma for two weeks. He was initially treated in Omsk, Siberia, before being transferred to the Charité University Hospital in Berlin at the urging of his family.
Yesterday, Wednesday, the German federal government announced that Navalny had provided “unequivocal evidence” of a chemical nerve agent from the Novitschok group.
Chancellor Angela Merkel spoke on Wednesday of an “attempted poisoning” of one of the leading figures in the Russian opposition: “It should be silenced.” Together with the NATO and EU partners, they will now debate and decide on a joint reaction.
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But what are Novichok neurotoxins and how do they work? We have collected the most important questions.
What is Novichok?
Novichok means something like beginner or novice in Russian. The term represents a group of powerful neurotoxins and warfare agents. There are hundreds of chemical variants, all of which are many times more toxic than, for example, sarin.
The neurotoxin can be used as a gas, liquid, or fine powder. The last time Novichok was reported in detail was in 2018, when former Russian agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter were poisoned with him in Britain.
How does Novichok work?
Novichok’s neurotoxins block the production of the enzyme cholinesterase. This enzyme is necessary in metabolism to promote the degradation of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine. If this messenger substance is no longer broken down, the nervous system is bombarded with uninhibited stimuli, the signaling pathways become completely overloaded and go haywire.
Body tissues, muscles and organs are showered with nervous information. This leads to increased salivation and respiratory problems because the poisoned person can no longer control their respiratory muscles. Inhibition of respiration and paralysis of the heart muscle can lead to death if poisoning is not treated. Vomiting and foaming at the mouth are also typical symptoms.
Novitschok is one of the strongest neurotoxins ever, the median lethal dose in contact with skin is around one to ten milligrams, depending on the Novitschok compound present. For comparison: with sarin, more than 1000 milligrams are required for this.
How is poisoning treated?
First of all, you need to ensure that the patient does not suffocate from muscle spasms in the airways. Therefore, Navalny immediately received artificial respiration.
The paramedics take the special stretcher with which they took Navalny to the Charité back to the ambulance. Image: keystone
Actual poisoning can be treated relatively well with antidotes such as atropine, provided it is discovered quickly enough, toxicologist Martin Göttlicher, director of the Institute for Toxicology at the Helmholtz Center in Munich, tells “T-Online.”
However, there are concerns that long-term damage, such as muscle weakness or memory impairment, will persist. In the case of Navalny, the result is still open; she is currently in a coma. A full recovery can take, however, Divine talks about half a year to a full year.
What is the origin of neurotoxins?
Soviet chemists had been working on Novichok compounds since the early 1970s. The goal was to develop a new generation of warfare agents that would be difficult to detect. The result of the research is a whole series of neurotoxins, which are grouped under the name Novitschok. However, many of these poisons weren’t suitable for actual use, in part because they were too unstable.
Vladimir Uglev was the first chemist to synthesize Novichok’s compound A-234 in 1975. Image: AP / Vladimir Uglev
They all have in common that they inhibit acetylcholinesterase and are based on organic phosphorus compounds. The latter because the production of neurotoxins could be camouflaged as a civil investigation program and, therefore, could not be detected by foreign secret services or forensic experts.
The existence of the neurotoxins only became known to the public in October 1991 through the revelations of the Russian chemist Wil Mirsajanow.
Can you produce the toxin in the kitchen?
No, it is not that easy. A well-equipped chemical laboratory and in-depth chemical knowledge are required for production, but a high-security laboratory is not required, says toxicologist Göttlicher. Above all, you need someone who is willing to put a lot of energy into production. And furthermore: “It doesn’t necessarily have to be a state. But it takes a certain amount of logistics, and it would be very difficult for that to go unnoticed in the long run. “
Ralf Trapp, a former consultant to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), has a similar opinion: in an interview with “Vice”, he says that raw materials are relatively easy to obtain, as long as you have access to a chemical industry. On the other hand, the greatest difficulty lies in the correct composition of the toxin. You have to have a lot of knowledge and a lot of research before it works. He sums it up: “I think not many labs can do that.”
It is not yet possible to say if it was the same substance that was used to poison Skripal in 2018. Divine to this: “The test should be difficult. Novichoks are a class of substances. Analysts have agreed that the material belongs to this class. We still don’t know if it is exactly the same substance. “
