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In Russia, someone, and for some unknown reason, is collecting biological material from representatives of various ethnic groups. Vladimir Putin announced this during a meeting of the Council for the Development of Civil Society and Human Rights.

“But the images are okay. You know that biological material is collected throughout the country. Moreover, for different ethnic groups and people living in different geographical locations Russian Federation. The question is - why are they doing this? They do it purposefully and professionally. We are such an object of great interest,” the president noted.

The head of state did not disclose any details, and did not say where he got such data from. But the Internet immediately remembered that something similar had recently been reported on the REN TV channel.

The TV channel's story talked about the fact that certain Western laboratories, including those located in Ukraine, are collecting biomaterial. As REN TV journalists report, these laboratories are studying biomaterial in order to create especially dangerous viruses designed for certain types of people.

These military biological laboratories, which were supposedly built to reduce biological threats within specific regions, are actually studying the effects of viruses and bacteria on people, animals and plants. This version can be supported by the fact that the US Air Force Aviation Training Command published a contract for the purchase of RNA samples - living tissues of Caucasian Russian citizens. This tender is on the website public procurement USA

In its material, REN TV refers to the publication of the Global Research portal dated August 22, which actually talks about such laboratories, citing as an example an outbreak of a “mysterious intestinal infection” that spread in Odessa. The publication reports that Ukrainian laboratories are actually under US jurisdiction. Only American specialists work there, and outsiders are strictly prohibited from entering.

According to the portal, in this way the United States wants to circumvent the biological weapons convention. Global Research notes that there seem to be more than 400 such laboratories around the world, but the Pentagon either keeps silent on all questions from journalists or assures that laboratories, on the contrary, are necessary to protect against viruses and biological weapons.

It remains unclear whether Vladimir Putin stated this. However, Internet users treated these messages with distrust.

Reptilians have traditionally been accused of collecting biomaterials, to which some even include Zuckerberg.

Users also noted other, no less traditional culprits.

However, there are versions that someone doesn’t really need the Russian biomaterial.

However, in the West they believe that the Russian Federation is not sitting idly by and is plotting intrigues against the peaceful States. Look, even Morgan Freeman was hired to speak clearly about the fact that the Russian Federation seemed to have declared war on America.

Moreover, it is quite possible that biological weapons may soon not be needed at all by any of the countries. Because the age of combat humanoid robots is approaching, and they have already been successfully tested in Japan.

The meeting of the Presidential Human Rights Council, which took place on October 30, was remembered not for Vladimir Putin’s eloquent reaction to the violation of human rights and the attack on freedom of speech, which Council members traditionally spoke about, but for an unexpected topic from the field of defense and security - the threat of “biological weapons” .

Objects of interest

The President listened to the comments of human rights activists and rejected almost everything: there is freedom of speech in the country and proof of this is the state-funded radio station Ekho Moskvy, whose journalist was almost killed by an unbalanced listener from Israel. Nobody is prosecuting an outstanding theater director for his political views, but he must be held accountable for fraud with government funding. It is not so important that foreign observers receive “images” of Russians through video cameras at polling stations. The real problem, according to Putin, is that some foreigners, for unknown purposes, are collecting biological material from Russians from different ethnic groups and geographical points of the country. “We are an object of great interest,” summed up the head of state.

Presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov later confirmed: “Some emissaries conduct such activities - representatives of non-governmental organizations and other bodies.” At the level legislative branch- The State Duma and the Federation Council - some saw the president’s words as a signal to action.

Former head of Rospotrebnadzor Gennady Onishchenko announced the development of a law on the biological safety of Russians and attacked the Invitro laboratory network, calling the company “foreign” (although it was founded by the Russian doctor Alexander Ostrovsky, and it is owned through an offshore company (like 90% of the Russian economy) - Cypriot " Invitro Holding Limited"). The accusations turned out to be unfounded: as the company later assured, all analyzes are carried out in Russia.

But by this time, the authorities on the lower floors were already talking about “biological” and even “ethnic” weapons, as well as about US biological laboratories on the borders of Russia. The topic has turned in the “right” direction: the president, judging by his statements, is very interested in the development of artificial intelligence, which will allow the creator country to take over the world, and Genetic Engineering, according to Putin, and even “more terrible atomic bomb" In other words, the president sees the latest scientific and technological developments as sources of power and progressive types of weapons.

At the same time, Putin has always gravitated towards personal and family history, was interested in his own origins. In 2015, he supported the Russian Genomes project of the Center for Genomic Bioinformation named after. Dobzhansky (in the state " Rossiyskaya newspaper“Just recently, material was published about how samples are collected for him) to study the genes of the indigenous people of Russia. A total of 3 thousand people should take part in the study. As of October this year, the data of half of the participants had already been processed. According to the president’s description, we could be talking specifically about the “Russian Genome”. However, it seemed strange that the head of state forgot about him.

Fight for the market

Russian scientists send the obtained DNA for sequencing to the USA and Europe as part of their research. The latter, as interpreted by representatives of the intelligence services or officials with “access to the body,” might not have pleased the president. And if the Center for Genomic Bioinformation talks about the accessibility and openness of the genome database for scientists from all over the world, then, for example, commercial company Genotek, according to its director, geneticist Valery Ilyinsky, does not have this access, and he calls for analyzing biological materials exclusively in Russia. It would not be out of place to say that the board of directors of the young and developing company includes former head Presidential Administration Alexander Voloshin.

However, no matter how ambiguous and ominous the phrase “biological material” may sound, one must understand that this is a routine blood test in a clinic. Genetic samples are collected for applied purposes: to study heredity and predisposition to diseases, as well as purely scientific ones: to trace the development of an individual people or ethnic group, its settlement, migration routes, interbreeding. So, in 2015, a study was published about the gene pool Slavic people, however, the Slavs are not the only ethnic group that scientists are interested in. This must be understood so as not to fall into delusions of grandeur, and then immediately into delusions of persecution.

Meanwhile, on the wave raised by the president, a real and long-overdue struggle for a highly specialized market unfolded. It is obvious that through the intelligence services and other channels laws and measures will be lobbied that will close the country off from the achievements of the global world. For this purpose, “horror stories” about a “hypothetical attack” on the genes of Russian citizens are specifically used. It is unlikely that the intelligence services understand DNA and understand the basics of genetics. However, they are excellent at manipulating information and creating myths. For example, about genetic weapons.

Possible biological warfare is being actively discussed today in the Federation Council: supposedly it is possible to develop some kind of weapon that will only infect Russians, causing them illness and death. At one time, this idea was promoted by the head of the Security Council, Nikolai Patrushev. Thanks to his efforts, in 2007, DNA samples could not be exported from Russia for some time, which affected tens of thousands of citizens who urgently needed donor organs and transplants. As the media wrote, at that time the situation was related to the redistribution of the pharmaceutical market.

Today, DNA and biomaterials are allowed to be exported from the country. However, companies operating in the promising market insist that the state must regulate it, because foreign companies do not pay taxes in Russia and do not obtain licenses in Russian jurisdiction, and do not comply with health laws. So, for example, says Artur Isaev, founder of the Center for Genetics and Reproductive Medicine Genetico.

Wherein full analysis DNA in Russia (probably taking into account taxes, licenses and other specific nuances) costs about 5 thousand dollars, while in Germany - 1 thousand. It is clear why citizens in severe cases contact charities and go abroad for treatment. This also explains the cooperation of Russian scientists with foreign partners.

However, the myth quickly takes hold in the public consciousness. The news about the Pentagon purchasing biological material from Russians to study the musculoskeletal system confirmed the conspiracy theory of the president, who never answered the question of why foreigners are studying the DNA of Russian citizens. The fact that this was a repeated study, the purity of which required similar samples (and the original set was supplied on a competitive basis from Russia), no longer interests or convinces anyone.

At the same time, modern medicine extremly necessary the international cooperation to advance the fight against disease and develop new pharmacological agents. We are talking, first and foremost, about people's lives, and not about power, markets or weapons. Respected scientists, unlike government officials, are very skeptical about the possibility of creating a “genetic” weapon: large nations and ethnic groups have not lived in isolation from each other for the last thousand years, they are highly mixed and genetically indistinguishable, so that it is possible to isolate a specific combination of genes of Russians or Englishmen and influence them exclusively.

Unfortunately, in our reality, myths are stronger than facts, and conspiracy theories are always more attractive than the truth.

TASS DOSSIER. On October 30, 2017, at a meeting of the Presidential Council for the Development of Civil Society and Human Rights, Russian President Vladimir Putin mentioned that foreigners are collecting biological material from Russians. The editors of TASS-DOSSIER have prepared information about what biomaterial is, what programs for its collection are being implemented with American participation, as well as about the tender announced in the US federal procurement system for the collection of biomaterial in Russia.

Biomaterial is material from living tissues specially prepared for medical research. It is used both for therapeutic purposes and for the diagnosis of various diseases.

The main project for collecting biological material was the Human Genome, launched in the USA in 1990 under the leadership of the American scientist James Watson. Its implementation was coordinated by the US National Institutes of Health. The project was completed in the early 2000s. It was replaced by another, this time international - “1000 Genomes”. Within its framework, it was planned to collect the most complete map of the gene pool different ethnic groups. Moreover, in November 2015, a scientific article in the American journal Gigascience noted that the map of genotypes of Russian residents is the least complete among all countries in the world.

Since 2014, work with biomaterials has been carried out by the biotechnical division created within the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) under the US Department of Defense. One of the areas of this division is synthetic biology - the design of biomaterials with predetermined properties.

In these and other projects, tissue samples for research were usually provided by volunteers, including from other countries. The tender, announced in June of this year, is the first time that Americans purchased biomaterial from foreigners centrally, through the US federal procurement system (www.fbo.gov).

A preliminary application for the purchase of samples of synovial (joint) fluid and ribonucleic acid (RNA), taken in Russia from representatives of the Caucasian race, was placed on June 2. Samples had to weigh more than 0.25 g; RNA was required to be provided frozen. It was emphasized that the conditions of the tender would not be satisfied by material from donors with HIV infection, hepatitis, syphilis, or musculoskeletal injuries. On July 18, additions were made to the application: in particular, the materials were required to be taken from Russians, and not from Ukrainians.

The customer was the 502nd Squadron of the US Air Force (502d Contracting Squadron, part of the Air Training Command, located at the San Antonio base, Bear County, Texas). The explanation to the application stated that the samples were intended for the Center for advanced molecular detection (CAMD), operating at this base for research project for the study of diseases and injuries of the musculoskeletal system (Musculoskeletal disease and injury research project). According to open sources, CAMD is engaged in applied biomedical research for the US Army. Short description his musculoskeletal disease project was published on the San Antonio University Symposium website on June 15, 2017. It reported that the project has already collected more than 2,100 DNA samples to search for biomarkers of osteoarthritis, osteoporosis and rheumatoid arthritis in order to detect predisposition to these diseases in advance. It was reported that the project involved cadets undergoing training on the base. It was not specified why CAMD needed the samples taken in Russia.

According to the procurement website, the customer should have received a response from the potential contractor by July 27; on August 11, the tender was archived. There was no information about whether it took place.

On July 28, 2017, the tender for the purchase of these samples was mentioned on the channel’s website in the article “Military interest: the US Air Force wants to purchase samples of living tissue from Russians” (in the English version - “Arming viruses: the US Air Force has placed a tender for biological samples of tissue from Russians”).

Russian President Vladimir Putin said that some unknown forces are “purposefully collecting biomaterial from Russians. The head of state did not disclose who is doing this, why, or any details at all. Therefore, Internet users began to make their own guesses. Moreover, the REN TV channel recently reported on similar events.

In Russia, it is unclear for what purpose someone is collecting biological material from representatives of various ethnic groups. Vladimir Putin stated this at a meeting of the Council for the Development of Civil Society and Human Rights.

But the images are okay. You know that biological material is collected throughout the country. Moreover, for different ethnic groups and people living in different geographical locations of the Russian Federation. The question is - why are they doing this? They do it purposefully and professionally. We are such an object of great interest,” RIA Novosti quotes the president.

Putin did not disclose any details, and he also did not say where he got such information from. However, the Internet immediately remembered that something similar had recently been reported on the TV channel.

The TV channel's story says that some Western laboratories, which are also located in Ukraine, are collecting biomaterial. According to REN TV journalists, these laboratories study biomaterial in order to create especially dangerous viruses designed for certain types of people.

These military biological laboratories, which were supposedly built to reduce biological threats within certain regions, are actually studying the effects of viruses and bacteria on people, animals and plants. This version may be supported by the fact that the US Air Force Aviation Training Command published a contract for the purchase of RNA samples - living tissues of Caucasian Russians. The corresponding tender is posted on the US government procurement website

In its material, REN TV refers to the publication of the Global Research portal dated August 22, which actually talks about such laboratories, citing as an example an outbreak of a “mysterious intestinal infection” that spread in Odessa. The publication says that Ukrainian laboratories are actually under US jurisdiction. They are staffed exclusively by American experts, and outsiders are strictly prohibited from entering.

According to the portal, in this way the United States wants to circumvent the biological weapons convention. Global Research says that there are supposedly more than 400 such laboratories around the world, but the Pentagon either keeps silent on all questions from journalists, or assures that laboratories, on the contrary, are needed to protect against viruses and biological weapons.

It remains unclear whether Vladimir Putin was talking about this data. But Internet users treated the information with distrust.

Reptilians were traditionally accused of collecting biomaterials, to which.

There were other, no less traditional culprits.

It was unanimously decided not to give biomaterial to enemies.

But there are versions that someone doesn’t really need the Russian biomaterial.

However, in the West they believe that Russia is also not sitting idly by and plotting intrigues against the peaceful States. Look, even Morgan Freeman was hired to speak clearly about the fact that Russia is supposedly the United States.

Moreover, it is quite likely that biological weapons may soon not be needed at all by any of the countries. After all, the age of combat humanoid robots is approaching, and in Japan there are already .

Who collects biomaterials of Russians, why Vladimir Putin’s statements are dangerous for geneticists and why social network users are in vain laughing at the president’s excitement, read the material on the site.

Images, samples, “pichalka”

On October 30, a meeting of the Council for the Development of Civil Society on Human Rights was held, at which the country's President Vladimir Putin said that someone was collecting biological material from Russians. This is how the president reacted to the words of the chairman of the council of the All-Russian public organization“Russian Public Institute of Electoral Law” by Igor Borisov that with the help of a video surveillance system in Russia, images of Russian citizens are collected for unknown purposes.

“Regarding the fact that images of our citizens and voters are collected by someone and somehow used... Images are okay, but you know that biological material is collected throughout the country, and from different ethnic groups and people living in different geographical locations Russian Federation? Here’s the question: why are they doing this?” the President addressed the Council members.

“They do it purposefully and professionally. We are such an object of great interest. Therefore, in the first part of what I said, all this is interconnected. We need, of course, to approach this without any fear. Let them do what they want, and we must do what we must, and taking into account your comments we will organize this work,” Putin worried. According to Dmitry Peskov, the president receives this information from the special services.

The president's words caused users social networks expected excitement. Thus, Doctor of Biological Sciences, popularizer of science Mikhail Gelfand, in the usual emotional manner, criticized the president’s statement. “First of all, this is crap. Secondly, she jumped out in response to something completely wrong (you are talking about elections - we are talking about genetic weapons - i.e. it sits in the subcortex). Thirdly, he didn’t come up with this himself, some bastard sang it (I think I know who this bastard is). As well as about the Sochi genetic soldiers. In general, this is already a clinic. Pichalka,” – wrote he's on his Facebook.

Geneticists, however, do collect biomaterials. “As far as I know, there are two centers in our country, one in Moscow and the other in St. Petersburg, which collect biomaterials of the most different nations Russia and send them to their colleagues in the USA. The main goal of these studies, judging by the publications that appeared over the past last years, is to study the genetic diversity of different ethnic groups in Russia, to search for differences between them, including what diseases affect them, and to describe these differences,” said Genotek director, geneticist Valery Ilyinsky. The site has already written about one of such studies by the company in “In search of “indigenous” Russians: how not to talk about genetic research.”

Senior Researcher Institute for Information Transmission Problems named after A.A. Kharkevich RAS Alexander Panchin recalled the US Air Force tender for the purchase of 12 samples of RNA molecules and synovial tissue from Russians (it was published on the US government procurement portal - website note). According to the terms of the tender, donors must be citizens of Russia, Caucasians, without injuries to the musculoskeletal system, with negative tests for HIV, hepatitis B, hepatitis C, and syphilis. Russian media then they actively discussed the announced tender and suggested that the United States was developing genetic weapons, and Russia Today experts even said that the Americans could be preparing to create military viruses.

Viruses at the ready!

Creating genetic weapons or “combat viruses” is technically quite difficult: most genomes different people similar, and human populations can be very diverse and constantly mix with each other. As a result, the concept of a “pure nation” simply does not exist now. While it is theoretically possible to create biological weapons against some small group of people who have lived in genetic isolation for thousands of years, it is impossible to create viruses that kill “only Russians, but not Chukchis,” “only Americans, but not Canadians.” In addition, a lot of time and money would have to be spent on this, so the end clearly would not justify the means.

“Firstly, not enough biomaterial is collected; we still don’t really know our population frequencies according to the ExAC type (Exome Aggregation Consortium, a scientific project that collects and combines data on read regions of the genome, on the basis of which protein is synthesized, making this data available to the scientific community - website note), secondly, collecting biomaterial is not at all difficult, because everyone travels abroad and takes saliva and hair with them, thirdly, genetic weapons are from the realm of unscientific fiction,” comments Andrey Afanasyev, founder and CEO companies iBinom and yRisk.

“It is impossible to make a genetic weapon, although after the restriction on the export of biomaterials in 2008, a lot of stories appeared around,” notes Svetlana Borinskaya, chief researcher. laboratory of genome analysis IOG named after N.I. Vavilova. According to her, it is, of course, possible to identify genetic differences between nations: “The Chinese genetically cannot tolerate milk, and if the Chinese army is given milk to drink, it will not be able to get up from the potty for half a day. It would seem, why not a weapon? But this is impossible to use. The fact is that numerous peoples do not have such genetic characteristics that would distinguish only one ethnic group and are absent in others. If among the Chinese there are approximately 98% of people with lactose intolerance, among the Russians there will be 35-40%, and even if we make a weapon that will kill on this basis, then it will kill not only the enemy, but also a third of our own and part of everyone around us.” . According to the expert, only close relatives are very noticeably similar genetically, but these are too small groups of people, and making weapons against them is pointless.

Svetlana Borinskaya suggested that the president was talking about the collection of biomaterials by scientists, but it is difficult to understand which ones exactly. “If we are talking about genetics, then such studies are carried out in all developed countries, she commented. - Scientific groups often include scientists from different countries, they combine their results, make the genomes publicly available, and there is no danger in this. Perhaps we are talking about the case with synovial tissue. To put it simply, these are joint tissues. Of course, it does not indicate why they were needed, but perhaps foreign scientists requested them from Russia because here it is possible to quickly obtain permission from the ethical commission, because medical research always requires such approval, checking whether harm is caused to the project participants. What kind of material collection? we're talking about, we can only guess. If we do talk about this case, it’s surprising how well-informed senior management is that they already know about such a small tender.”

Conspiracy craze

The president’s statement may have negative consequences for the work of geneticists in Russia, believes Senior Researcher at the Institute of Linguistics of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Doctor of Philology Alexey Kasyan. The expert added that biomaterials are already collected throughout the country. “Biological samples are actually being collected all over the country, and this is important for science. Geneticists collect, travel through regions and districts, stick a stick in the cheek (saliva, epithelium) or take blood. There are practical goals: knowing the geographical distribution of the gene pool, you can, for example, indicate the probable place of origin of a dead terrorist based on his DNA. Potentially, there are ways out into medicine (slightly different medications may be more useful for different populations). There are purely scientific goals: the reconstruction of ancient migrations and prehistory, but taxpayers are also willing to pay for this,” he wrote. In his opinion, Putin’s words could harm geneticists, since regional leaders may refuse support when organizing research expeditions and even resist the arrival of geneticists.

It is important to note that biomaterial, by definition contained in official regulatory documents(for example, in the “Rules for the import into the territory of the Russian Federation and export outside the territory of the Russian Federation of biological materials ...”), these are “samples of biological fluids, tissues, secretions and human waste products, physiological and pathological secretions, smears, scrapings, washings, microorganisms, biopsy material." As we can see, the painfully familiar tests that we take at every medical examination at the local clinic fit perfectly into this list. “You can do whatever you want with them, so there is no such thing as just a biomaterial, it is for something. Biomaterial for the production of immunobiological drugs, for example,” explains Alexey Vodovozov.

There are also many versions as to why the president needed to say such a sacramental phrase. Some believe that someone wants to attract more attention and funding: either certain authorities to the military-industrial complex, or certain scientists to their research. Others think the president was simply trying to avoid a political dispute with Igor Borisov, chairman of the Council of the Russian Public Institute of Electoral Law. “If you carefully watch the full broadcast of the said discussion on YouTube, you will see that the story begins with the fact that a certain Mr. Igor Borisov meaningfully informed the president that a million views of open cameras at polling stations came from foreign IP addresses. From which he (Igor) concludes that it’s not without reason, oh, it’s not without reason that foreign neural networks are studying our Russian faces - we know from Edik Snowden, it’s not without reason! With the next phrase, Mr. Borisov is preparing to propose banning cameras at polling stations. The President needed to stop this farce, and abruptly and without going into an actual discussion,”