I now spent several good hours researching the documents provided, their sources and all the references I could find relating to Biopreparat: Spoiler: Location #1 Kirov Spoiler: Facility Institute of Microbiology Spoiler: Information According to Ken Alibek's testimony, this (or what he calls the Kirov "bacteriological facility") is where Anthrax 836 was initially synthesised. This is the same chemical found in the Sverdlovsk incident mentioned in the OSINT report. Spoiler: Location #2 Omutninsk Spoiler: Facility Omutninsk Chemical Factory / Institute of Applied Biochemistry Spoiler: Information Now this is very promising lead. It is located in a pine forest near Kirov, same region. According to a book called 'The Soviet Biological Weapons Program,' there was a secret underground facility located 400 meters away from the compound and two floors underground. This contained BLS-3 and BLS-4 laboratories, suited for BW R&D. The same Ken Alibek refers to it as Omutninsk Scientific and Production base or simply by its PO Box number B-8389. Even though this is the most promising lead, except for fleeting mentions of Zone Two and Building 107, no other name is referenced in any of my sources. Yeltsin mentions in 'Against the Grain' (1992) a "leak from a secret factory" as a cause for the aforementioned Sverdlovsky epidemic. Spoiler: Location #3 Strizhi Spoiler: Facility Kirov-200 Station, Tekhnichka Spoiler: Information Post no. 992, never online, fell in disrepair and disuse by 1997. I could not find any information on what is mentioned in the Mission's task*. Am I missing something? Have I gone too far? Have I not gone far enough? Am I on the right path at all? Should I read more into the epidemics and outbreaks? Am I just too tired and is it 3 AM already?! Spoiler: * The Sprawl, but I assume this is to do with a literal sprawl, a network of BW facilities from the Kirov region?
the document mentioned some institutes linking to Spoiler novosibirsk oblast that might give you a new direction to look at. also, the answer for the client might be a bit shorter than the actual answer you might find online
Thank you, @zaelong! My finds did not yield a new trajectory or new ground: Spoiler: Facts 1918 - 1993 (possibly longer,) Soviet BW Program 1918 - 1971, 'First Generation,' circa 1928, transitioning to developing the program for offensive measures; 1940 - 1947, MoD's BW bacteriological program initiated in Kirov, Sverdlovsk (Ekaterinburg/Yekaterinburg) and Zagorsk (Sergiyev/Sergiev Posad) circa 1960, use of modern biotechnology, including genetics; MoD's Institute for Military Medicine established in Leningrad (St. Petersburg,) with a Third Directorate concerned with BW; 1971 - 1993, 'Second Generation,' dismantled by Gorbachev's decree; 1972, Biochemical Weapons Convention 1973, Biopreparat officially established as a civilian institution, secretly the leading organisation in BW development; 1974, Biopreparat establishes the Institute for Ultra Pure Biological Preparations in Leningrad. Under the 15th Directorate: MoD, Biopreparat, Ministry Of Health, Ministry Of Agriculture, Ministry Of the Interior (disregarding island facilities, institutes in Moscow and over 50 other locations for lack of connection to the investigation) are involved with BW; Further to MoD's aforementioned facilities (featured in the investigation) Biopreparat was meant to cover the military research behind a network (a possible sprawl?) of legitimate pharmaceutical facilities (codenamed 'Ogarkov's System' or 'Ferment,' responsible for Project Factor) to include Berdsk Chemical Factory (Novosibirsk Oblast,) Omutninsk Chemical Factory (Kirov Oblast) and Scientific Production Association 'Vektor' (also Novosibirsk Oblast,) which is cited to have officially worked for the MoD and posses BSL-3 and BSL-4; circa 1992, although the BW program is officially terminated by Yeltsin, the MoD keeps operation of and secrecy over closed facilities of Kirov, Yekaterinburg and Sergiyev Posad; 1993-1993 US/UK team visits facilities at Berdsk and Omutninsk (among others, which are not relevant) under the Trilateral Agreement; 1999, cancer cluster reported at the Scientific Research Institute of Microbiology's Kirov-200 station (Levintsy, near Strizhi) Whilst the Kirov, Yekaterinburg and Sergiyev Posad Institutes continue to be active, there is no apparent connection that I can find between the three and any of the Novosibirsk Oblast facilities, namely Vektor and Berdsk and no evidence of continued BW activity in St. Petersburg. Spoiler: Key References Filippa Lentzos (2016) 'Biological Threats in the 21st Century' Ken Alibek (2008) 'Biohazard' Milton Leitenberg, Raymond A Zilinskas, Jens H Kuhn (2002) 'The Soviet Biological Weapons Program' Sharad S. Chauhan (2004) 'Biological Weapons' Susan Wright (2002) 'Biological Warfare and Disarmament' What am I missing? Am I in the right direction? I think I already exhausted the sources I provided.
@Swordfish ive seen part of the answer hidden in your fact sheet. i think its best if you just looked at the different institutes associated with biopreparat, according to wikipedia... that would make your life so much easier
Mary and Joseph and the Magi! I must have written that down in various forms hundreds of times. It is somewhat upsetting when the accepted answers are limited to one very specific solution. Thank you once again, @zaelong!
Mission1.0 is doing my nut in i have tired all combos for the correct name but not working, if someone can help i would be grateful
Nudgery: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ MR1-1 A VERY COLD CASE Nudge: Spoiler Make sure you know how long the words are you are looking for. You need to have some idea of what words to find. Google some terms in the document - something is going to come up to inspire you Bigger Nudge: Spoiler What were the two guards talking about? They mention any key words? What kind of science is being done at these facilities? Who is sponsoring it? It's going to have some sort of official name that only hints at its real use. Look in the documentation for candidate words that could fit our syntax - maybe google some others. Even Bigger Nudge: Spoiler The document provided talks about studying certain types of living entities. What kind of science studies living entities? This type of science isn't just for study however - researchers are looking to apply it. Don't get too caught up in too many candidate words and get your answer all srcambled Despite this being a dangerous program, the center isn't too far from the supporting nation's capital. Not more than 2 hours drive south. Final Nudge: Spoiler map.what3words.com hcqngr 7 1 19 12 9 7 8 20 6e 6f 74 69 6e 67 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ MR1-2 WITHOUT A CURE Nudge: Spoiler First of all, make sure you are looking in the right section of the document. A quick use of a "find" tool should help you here. There is a specific section where the narrator changes in this report - look at it closely. Bigger Nudge: Spoiler Our agent seems a bit confused after hearing what they hear. Perhaps it is not to be taken literally - especially since the talking parties seem to be having a laugh. What name is mentioned? Have you looked into this person? Final Nudge: Spoiler One of the words in the conversation was transcribed incorrectly by our agent - titles are usually capitalized - especially code names. The program we are looking for is what ISN'T mentioned here. What can our traitor tell you? Fun Fact UNRELATED TO PUZZLE: The traitor in question is still around - he literally could tell you something. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ MR1-3 MISSING LINKS Nudge: Spoiler You may have seen the words you're looking for - or even this facility - already. I had found the words and tried to apply them to the previous answers - but it took me a while to realize they were relevant here. Does our agent have any theories about where to look? Bigger Nudge: Spoiler A key word was mentioned here that describes all the sites that did this kind of research - some go by multiple names. Find what that word is and find a list of these sites. Even Bigger Nudge: Spoiler The word is "Biopreparat" and it had (has?) sites all over Russia. Our facility is one of those. The name we are looking for is almost a pun - rare to find puns in bioweapon research. The region our agent has suggested we look is big and empty. In fact, it is so big and empty that it is practically synonymous with big and empty. It is where you would be sent to if they didn't want you to come back Final Nudge Spoiler Look in this region: Your answer isn't directionless, and isn't without magnitude. It also contains a word that is both a noun and a verb. And not one of those business-speak words like "architecting"
