|
LOCATION: Gvardeyskiy settlement, Zhambyl Oblast, Kazakhstan
SUBORDINATION: During the
Soviet period, the NISKhI was formally under the control of the Soviet Ministry
of Agriculture. At present, it is branch enterprise of the National Center for
Biotechnology (NCB).
ACTIVITIES: During the Soviet period, the NISKhI was
engaged in production of various BW agents harmful to livestock and plants.
Today, the institute conducts fundamental research into the molecular biology of
various pathogens.
STATUS: In operation.
HISTORY:
The Scientific
Research Agricultural Institute (NISKhI) was established in 1958 in the
settlement of Gvardeyskiy outside the city of Otar, about 180 kilometers from
Almaty. The NISKhI was the only BW research center in Kazakhstan specializing in
viruses and belonged to a distinct group of Soviet BW facilities that developed
agents harmful to livestock and plants. Although the institute was subordinate
to the USSR Ministry of Agriculture, its director held military rank. The NISKhI
had cooperative ties with Russian centers conducting similar research in
Vladimir (under the Ministry of Agriculture), in Sverdlovsk (under the MOD), and
at Vector in Novosibirsk (under Biopreparat), where the agents produced at the
NISKhI were tested. The institute did not have direct links with the Stepnogorsk
and Vozrozhdeniye facilities, evidently because of its specialization in
anti-crop and anti-livestock agents.
Research on anti-crop agents
possibly began in the 1970s, when the NISKhI received orders from military
authorities to study the resistance of crops to various biological pathogens.
The institute had broad expertise in highly pathogenic and exotic diseases of
livestock and crops caused by viruses and other agents. Among these are
Rinderpest virus, Newcastle disease virus, African swine fever virus, sheep pox
virus, goat pox virus, fowl pox virus, blue-tongue virus (catarrhal fever of
sheep), herpes virus (Aujeszky's disease), and cereal rust fungi.
In 1991, Moscow terminated all military research and left the NISKhI without
central administration or funding. Many specialists left to work at institutes
in Russia.
After Moscow stopped funding the NISKhI, the institute
initially fell under the administrative control of the Kazakhstani Ministry of
Agriculture, and the conversion process to peaceful research started. In 1993,
the newly created National Center for Biotechnology (NCB) brought the NISKhI
under its control together with Stepnogorsk Scientific Experimental and
Production Base (SNOPB) and Kazakhstani civilian biotechnology facilities. At
present, the NISKhI conducts fundamental research into the molecular biology of
various pathogens: viruses, bacteria, and fungi harmful to plants and animals.
The institute also develops methods of preparing nutrient media for virology
research, and possesses an extensive agricultural pathogen library, which
requires considerable measures for ensuring physical security. The library
includes collections of microorganisms, viruses, pathogens, plants, and also
vivarium, greenhouse, and agricultural technologies. For enhancement of its
security (and also of pathogen collections at the Anti-Plague Scientific
Research Institute in Almaty), $4 million was allocated under the CTR program,
which is specifically designed to provide bio-security and bio-safety protection
for national strain collections at two facilities in Kazakhstan. The goal of the
program was the creation of both secure working conditions for personnel and the
physical security of the institute. As a result of the program, excess
infrastructure was removed, a reinforced concrete fence was erected around the
site (links to CTR website and Carnegie Endowment website), an alarm system was
installed within the security perimeter, and training was provided for the
institute's security personnel.
Key Sources: Gulbarshyn Bozheyeva,
Yerlan Kunakbayev, and Dastan Yeleukenov, "Former Soviet Biological Weapons
Facilities in Kazakhstan: Past, Present and Future," Occasional Paper, No. 1,
Center for Nonproliferation Studies, June 1999; Jonathan B. Tucker and Raymond
A. Zilinskas, "The 1971 Smallpox Epidemic in Aralsk, Kazakhstan, and the Soviet
Biological Warfare Program," Occasional Paper No. 9, Center for Nonproliferation
Studies, June 2002; Jonathan B. Tucker's speech during the briefing on
"Biological Decontamination of Vozrozhdeniye Island: The US-Uzbek Agreement"; BW
Materials Security and Transparency, Cooperative Threat Reduction (CTR) webpage
at the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) Website,
<http://www.dtra.mil/ctr/ctr_kazakhstan.html>; Gennadiy Lepeshkin,
"Byvshiye obyekty po razrabotke BO v Tsentralnoy Azii," Problemy
Nerasprastraneniya, Special Edition, April 2001; Yevgeniy Troitskiy,
"Fizicheskaya zashita, uchet i kontrol biomaterialov v NISKhI MON RK," Problemy
Nerasprastraneniya, Special Edition, April 2001.
 |
| |
Updated March 2008 |
|
|
