Novichok agent

Novichok (Russian новичок: "Newcomer") is a series of nerve agents that were developed by the Soviet Union in the 1970s and 1980s^[1] and allegedly the most deadly nerve agents ever made, with some variants supposed to be five to eight times more potent than VX nerve gas.^[2]^[3] They belong to "forth generation chemical weapons" designed as a part of Soviet "Foliant" program. ^[4] Initially designated K-84 and later renamed A-230. The Novichok family of analogs comprises more than a hundred structural variants.^[5] Of all the variants the most promising, from a military standpoint, was A-232 (Novichok-5).^[6]

Design objectives

Some of these agents are binary weapons, in which precursors for the nerve agents are mixed in a munition to produce the agent just prior to its use. Because the precursors are generally significantly less hazardous than the agents themselves, this technique makes handling and transporting the munitions a great deal simpler. Additionally, precursors to the agents are usually much easier to stabilize than the agents themselves, so this technique also made it possible to increase the shelf life of the agents. During the 1980s and 1990s, binary versions of several Soviet agents were developed and are designated as "Novichok" agents (after the Russian word for "newcomer").

Disclosure

Extremely potent third-generation chemical weapons were developed in the Soviet Union and Russia from the 1970s until the early 1990s, according to a publication by two chemists, Lev Fedorov and Vil Myrzayanov in Moskovskiye Novosti weekly in 1992.^[7] The publication appeared just on the eve of Russia's signing of the Chemical Weapons Convention. According to Mirzayanov, the Russian Military Chemical Complex (MCC) was using defense conversion money received from the West for development of a chemical warfare facility^[3]^[2] Mirzoyanov made his disclosure out of environmental concerns. He was a head of a counter-intelligence department and performed measurements outside the chemical weapons facilities to make sure that foreign spies could not detect any traces of production. To his horror, the levels of deadly substances were 80 times greater than the maximum safe concentration.^[3] (A full account by Mirzayanov is available online.^[8])

The existence of Novichok agents was openly admitted by Russian military industrial complex authorities when they brought a treason case against Mirzayanov. According to expert witness testimonies prepared for the KGB by three scientists, novichok and other related chemical agents had indeed been produced and therefore the disclosure by Mirzoyanov represented high treason.^[9]

Vil Mirzayanov was arrested in October 22, 1992 and sent to Lefortovo prison for divulging state secrets. He was released later because "not one of the formulas or names of poisonous substances in the Moscow News article was new to the Soviet press, nor were locations ... of testing sites revealed."^[3] According to Yevgenia Albats, "the real state secret revealed by Fyodorov and Nirzoyanov was that generals had lied - and were still lying - to both the international community and their fellow citizens."^[3] He now lives in the U.S.^[10]

Description of Novichok agents

The first description of these agents was provided by Mirzayanov.^[8] Dispersed in an ultra-fine powder instead of a gas or a vapor, they have unique qualities. A binary agent was then created that would mimic the same properties but would either be manufactured using materials legal under the CWT^[10] or be undetectable by treaty regime inspections.^[11]

One of the key manufacturing sites was a chemical research institute in what is now Uzbekistan^[11], and small, experimental batches of the weapons may have been tested on the nearby Ustyurt plateau.^[11]

The Novichok agents are organophosphorus compounds with an attached dihaloformaldoxime group, with the general formula shown below, where R = alkyl, alkoxy, alkylamino or fluorine and X = halogen (F, Cl, Br) or pseudohalogen such as C≡N.^[12]^[13]^[14]^[15]^[16]^[17]

The most potent compounds from this family, novichok-5 and novichok-7, are supposedly around 5-8x more potent than VX, however the exact structures of these compounds are not publicly available. Some examples of novichok compounds reported in the literature are shown below, but it is unknown whether any of these is novichok-5 or novichok-7.

Binary novichok compounds were apparantly also produced, where two relatively non-toxic compounds would react to form a lethal novichok agent when mixed, however the details of these are not available.

Effects

As a nerve agent, Novichok belongs to organophosphate acetylcholinesterase inhibitors. These chemical compounds inhibit the enzyme acetycholinesterase, preventing the normal breakdown of neurotransmitter acetylcholine. Acetylcholine concentrations then increase at neuromuscular junctions to cause involuntary contraction of all muscles. This then leads to respiratory and cardiac arrest and ergo death. The use of a fast-acting peripheral anti-cholinergic drug could block the receptors where the acetylcholine acts to prevent poisoning. This is however quite dangerous in itself.

References

^ Tucker, J. B.; War of Nerves; Anchor Books; New York; 2006; pp 232-233.
^ ^a ^b Vadim J. Birstein. The Perversion Of Knowledge: The True Story of Soviet Science. Westview Press (2004) ISBN 0-813-34280-5
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Yevgenia Albats and Catherine A. Fitzpatrick. The State Within a State: The KGB and Its Hold on Russia - Past, Present, and Future, 1994. ISBN 0-374-18104-7 (see pages 325-328)
^ Tucker, J. B.; War of Nerves; Anchor Books; New York; 2006; pp 231.
^ Tucker, J. B.; War of Nerves; Anchor Books; New York; 2006; pp 233.
^ Tucker, J. B.; War of Nerves; Anchor Books; New York; 2006; pp 253.
^ Fedorov, Lev and Vil Mirzayanov, "Poisoned Politics," Moskovskiye Novosti weekly No. 39, 1992. Much of this information was published earlier in the newspaper "Top Secret" run by Artyom Borovik in September 1991. However the KGB did not arrest Mirzayanov earlier due to political turmoil in Russia at this time, according to a book by Yevgenia Albats.
^ ^a ^b Vil Mirzayanov "Dismantling the Soviet/Russian Chemical Weapons Complex: An Insider's View" Chemical Weapons Disarmament in Russia: Problems and Prospects (Washington, D.C.: Henry L. Stimson Center, 1995), page 21.
^ "the talk [by Mirzayanov] about binary weapons was no more than a verbal construct, an argument ex adverso, and only the MCC [Russian Military Chemical Complex] could corroborate or refute this natural assumption. By entangling V. S. Mirzayanov in investigation, the MCC confirmed the stated hypothesis, advancing it to the ranks of proven facts." [1]
^ ^a ^b David Hoffman (August 16, 1998). "http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/inatl/longterm/coldwar/wasteside1.htm Wastes of War: Soviets Reportedly Built Weapon Despite Pact]", The Washington Post. Retrieved on 2007-07-20.
^ ^a ^b ^c Louise Hidalgo (August 9, 1999). "US dismantles chemical weapons", BBC News Online. Retrieved on 2007-07-20.
^ Kruglyak Yu L, Malekin SI, Martynov IV. Phosphorylated oximes. XII. Reactions of 2-halophospholanes with dichlorofluoronitrosomethane. Zhurnal Obshchei Khimii. 1972; 42(4):811-14.
^ Raevskii OA, Chapysheva NV, Ivanov AN, Sokolov VB, Martynov IV. Effect of Alkyl Substituents in Phosphorylated Oximes. Zhurnal Obshchei Khimii. 1987; 57(12):2720-2723
^ Raevskii OA, Grigor'ev V Yu, Solov'ev VP, Ivanov AN, Sokolov VB, Martynov IV. Electron-Donor Functions of Ethyl Methylchloroformimino Methylphosphonate. Zhurnal Obshchei Khimii. 1987; 57(9):2073-2078
^ Makhaeva GF, Filonenko IV, Yankovskaya VL, Fomicheva SB, Malygin VV. Comparative studies of O,O-dialkyl-O-chloromethylchloroformimino phosphates: interaction with neuropathy target esterase and acetylcholinesterase. Neurotoxicology. 1998 Aug-Oct;19(4-5):623-8. PMID 9745921
^ Malygin VV, Sokolov VB, Richardson RJ, Makhaeva GF. Quantitative structure-activity relationships predict the delayed neurotoxicity potential of a series of O-alkyl-O-methylchloroformimino phenylphosphonates. Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health Part A. 2003 Apr 11;66(7):611-25. PMID 12746136
^ Steven L. Hoenig. Compendium of Chemical Warfare Agents. Springer New York, 2007. ISBN 978-0-387-34626-7

Contents

Design objectives

Disclosure

Description of Novichok agents

Effects

References

External links