Addendum to Ekaterinburg
In 1979, a biological weapons plant located in the southern part of Ekaterinburg, had a "supposed" leak that resulted in the death of about 64 people, or so the Russians claimed at the time. It has now been admitted by the Russians that the death toll numbered in the tens of thousands. The victims fall into three groups: (a) the general population of civilians, (b) the special forces performing cleanup, and (c) the military forces stationed on a base in the vicinity of the plant.
Apparently the "leak" was not a leak but an explosion in one of the underground tunnels where the biological weapons were stored. Moreover, there are now rumors circulating that the explosion was not accidental, but set on purpose to test the efficacy of the weapons in question. Interestingly, none of the plant's employees died or had their health affected by the occurrence. At the time, afflicted patients in the local hospitals were told that their health problems were caused by contaminated meat they had consumed, and this "diagnosis" is still put forth by government administrators to this day.
Yeltsin officially closed the plant in 1992 and stopped production of biological weapons across the country. The plant in Ekaterinburg (named "Military Town No. 19") was supposedly assigned the task of producing antibiotics. However, one Kanadzhan Alibekov (who now lives in the West), second in command of biological weapons production in the 1980s, claims that Military Town No. 19 is still engaged in the production of biological weapons and that this activity has not ceased in other parts of the country either, pointing specifically to Sergiev Posad and the Kirovsky region. Alibekov alleges that the Russian government wants to preserve Russia's biological weapons potential and thus continues to fund these plants generously.
To corroborate his claim that Military Town No. 19 continues to produce biological weapons, Alibekov cites current health statistics for the area of town where the plant is located: by April 30, 1998, they had 85 cases of bone cancer, 498 cases of lymphoma, and 667 cases of cancer of internal organs, all in children under the age of 10.
Source: "Sverdlovsk Infected by Siberian Ulcer," by A. Evtushenko and S. Avdeev, Komsomol'skaia Pravda, April 30, 1998, pp. 4–5