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396:, which lies in ruins today, but once held approximately 1,500 inhabitants. The official Soviet name of this city was the same as the weapons complex itself: Aralsk-7. It contained simple infrastructure that consisted of a social club, a stadium, a couple of schools and shops. A unique airfield, "Barkhan", was located close to Kantubek. It was the only airfield in the Soviet Union with four runways in an intersecting
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In the summer of 1936, Ivan
Mikhailovich Velikanov led the Red Army's first expedition to conduct biological weapons tests on Vozrozhdeniya Island. Around 100 personnel from Velikanov's Biotechnical Institute participated in the experiments. In July 1937, while planning for a second expedition to the
250:
Vozrozhdeniya was once a small island; it was only 200 square kilometres (77 sq mi) in the nineteenth century. However, in the 1960s, the island began to grow in size as the Aral Sea began drying up as the Soviet Union dammed its feeder rivers for agricultural projects. The shrinkage of the
326:
and several unsuccessful attempts to build the complex from 1936 to 1941 led to a belief that such a complex must be built far from the Soviet Union's borders with other nations. Vozrozhdeniya Island's location in the middle of the Aral Sea, well within Soviet borders, satisfied this consideration.
403:
Faced with the imminent dissolution of the USSR, the Soviet military authorities held a meeting in
November 1991 at the USSR Ministry of Defence's Virology Centre in Zagorsk to discuss the fate of Aralsk-7. Here the decision was taken to terminate experimental work on the island, and by late April
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335:(the causative agent of tularaemia), led a second expedition to Vozrozhdeniya. Two special ships and two aircraft were assigned to Khatanever for use in tests focused on the dissemination of tularaemia bacteria. In 1948, a top-secret Soviet
263:
dried up enough that the island joined the mainland. Upon the disappearance of the
Southeast Aral Sea in 2008, Vozrozhdeniya was simply a part of the surrounding land, and by 2014 it was simply a part of the land within the extensive
435:
called "Rebirth", where Alex Mason goes lone wolf–though he hallucinates that Viktor Reznov accompanies him–against
Friedrich Steiner while Jason Hudson and Gigori Weaver lead a team to extract Steiner out of the area.
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1992, all military units had been evacuated from the base. All people who lived on
Vozrozhdeniya Island were evacuated within several weeks; civil and military infrastructure was abandoned, and Kantubek became a
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331:
island, Velikanov was arrested by the Soviet security organs and subsequently shot. Later that same summer, Leonid
Moiseevich Khatanever, the new director of the Biotechnical Institute and an expert on
429:, the island was under U.S. occupation but was captured by the fictional Global Liberation Army. The area and its former biological weapons base and laboratories were also featured in a mission in
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667:
Oren, Aharon; Plotnikov, Igor S.; Sokolov, Sergey; Aladin, Nikolai V. (2010). "The Aral Sea and the Dead Sea: Disparate lakes with similar histories: Aral Sea - Dead Sea comparisons".
994:
450:
also mentions the site; the book's villains dig up two metric tons of "Anthrax 836" from an impromptu dump site 11 km from the island for use in a terror plot. The webnovel
374:(the causative agent of smallpox) from the island infected ten people, of whom three died. In the 1990s, word of the island's danger was spread by Soviet defectors, including
848:"Are We Safe Yet? For all the warnings, there hasn't been another attack. But the hard work of enhancing homeland security has only just begun. Here's what we need to do"
1128:
769:
510:
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408:. Many of the containers holding biological agents were not properly stored or destroyed, and over the last decade, many of these containers have developed leaks.
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306:
An ideal location for such complex would be a relatively large island 5–10 km (3–6 mi) from a coast. Initial sites discussed for this complex included
400:
pattern. The weather on the island changed frequently; thus, planes landed on one of the four runways depending on weather and wind direction at the time.
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were made into weapons and stored at the complex. The main town on the island, where scientists and employees of the complex lived, was called
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were searching for an appropriate place to build a science and military complex for inventing, producing, and testing biological weapons.
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Dembek, Zygmunt F., Julie A. Pavlin, and Mark G. Kortepeter (2007), "Epidemiology of
Biowarfare and Bioterrorism", Chapter 3 of:
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Island, Konstantin Island and
Naslednik Island. In the Soviet period Nicholas I Island was renamed Vozrozhdeniya.
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in the world, at 2,300 km (890 sq mi), in the final days of its existence in mid-2001, becoming a
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In 2002, through a project organized and funded by the United States with the assistance of
Uzbekistan, ten
363:'s Microbiological Warfare Group, tasked with inventing and testing the effects of multiple fatal diseases.
359:. In 1954, the site was expanded and named Aralsk-7, one of the main laboratories and testing sites for the
937:
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has the island and its bioweapons lab as the former workplace of the main character, Vladislav
Kerenski.
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438:
1328:
1204:
823:"Conversion of BW Facilities in Kazakstan" in Geissler, E. (Ed.), Conversion of Former BTW Facilities
293:
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770:"OP#09: The 1971 Smallpox Epidemic in Aralsk, Kazakhstan, and the Soviet Biological Warfare Program"
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Aral continued and accelerated over time, and the receding waters briefly made Vozrozhdeniya the
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In 1848–1849, a Russian marine expedition of the Aral Sea was organized with the schooner
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laboratory was established on the island, which tested a variety of agents, including
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958:
Former Soviet Biological Weapons Facilities in Kazakhstan: Past, Present, and Future
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292:. A group of islands was discovered that were named the Tzar Islands, consisting of
59:
1188:
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360:
319:
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797:
The Dead Hand: The Untold Story of the Cold War Arms Race and Its Dangerous Legacy
423:
The former island and its laboratory have appeared in novels and video games. In
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there and on the neighbouring Komsomolskiy Island, which also no longer exists.
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Biological Decontamination of Vozrozhdeniye Island: The U.S.-Uzbek Agreement
825:. Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Kluwer Academic Publishers. pp. 167–186.
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695:"Аральск-7 — закрытый город-призрак, где испытывали биологическое оружие"
555:"Аральск-7 — закрытый город-призрак, где испытывали биологическое оружие"
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580:"Grand Soviet Scheme for Sharing Water in Central Asia Is Foundering"
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Mid-2001: Vozrozhdeniya no longer an island, connects to the mainland
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mixes the island's chemical weapon history with a recreation of the
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Rebirth Island joins the mainland (2000 and 2001 satellite images)
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Stalin's Secret Weapon: The Origins of Soviet Biological Warfare
624:
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Military installations in the Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic
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Satellite image of former Vozrozhdeniya Island, November 1994
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Timeline of Vozrozhdeniya Island's growth then disappearance
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Plague Wars: The Terrifying Reality of Biological Warfare
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NASA satellite image comparison between 1989 and 2003
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891:"Technomagica [Progression Fantasy Litrpg]"
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446:prison for its Rebirth Resurgence mode. The novel
238:constructed a biological weapons test site called
669:Lakes & Reservoirs: Research & Management
226:. The former island's territory is split between
774:James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies
933:Youtube: Going To Extremes: Voz-Island (Part 2)
928:Youtube: Going To Extremes: Voz-Island (Part 1)
938:Welcome to Anthrax Island - Guardian Unlimited
988:
865:Chalker, Dennis & Dockery, Kevin (2006).
170:
8:
963:1960's Satellite images of Soviet laboratory
605:"Islands of the World: Largest Lake Islands"
26:
1231:Scientific Experimental and Production Base
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869:. New York City: Avon Books. p. 373.
58:
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486:in Scotland, a British anthrax test site.
919:Abandoned Anthrax: Vozrozhdeniye Island.
310:, but choices were narrowed down to the
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1425:Sanitary epidemiological reconnaissance
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507:Medical Aspects of Biological Warfare
216:Возрождение ороли, Vozrojdeniye oroli
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1004:Soviet program of biological weapons
968:Top Inhospitable Places in the World
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629:“Rebirth” Island Joins the Mainland
846:Powell, Bill (16 September 2002).
712:Rimmington, Anthony (2018-11-15).
415:burial sites were decontaminated.
14:
1491:Soviet biological weapons program
1241:Institute of Applied Biochemistry
578:Michael Wines (9 December 2002).
253:second-largest fresh water island
681:10.1111/j.1440-1770.2010.00436.x
1415:U.S. biological weapons program
1283:Institute of Virus Preparations
426:Command & Conquer: Generals
519:Textbooks of Military Medicine
322:and Vozrozhdeniya Island. The
21:Vozrozhdeniye (disambiguation)
1:
1471:Biological warfare facilities
1420:History of biological warfare
1405:Biological Weapons Convention
800:. Random House. p. 460.
748:. Macmillan. pp. 46–47.
299:In the 1920s, leaders of the
16:Former island in the Aral Sea
1481:Kazakhstan–Uzbekistan border
1053:Staphylococcal Enterotoxin B
867:The Home Team: Weapons Grade
821:Rimmington, Anthony (1998).
448:The Home Team: Weapons Grade
718:. Oxford University Press.
505:Dembek, Zygmunt F. (2007),
464:1971 Aral smallpox incident
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1451:Lake islands of Kazakhstan
1304:Nikolay Timofeev-Ressovsky
18:
1219:Facilities and test sites
657:The Aral Sea Encyclopedia
215:
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181:[vəzrɐˈʐdʲenʲɪjə]
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128:
69:
57:
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40:
742:; Jeff Goldberg (2001).
1456:Islands of the Aral Sea
1400:Biological warfare (BW)
1374:Sverdlovsk anthrax leak
1198:Operations and projects
794:Hoffman, David (2009).
432:Call of Duty: Black Ops
1379:Aral smallpox incident
333:Francisella tularensis
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1476:International islands
1446:Islands of Uzbekistan
1410:Entomological warfare
922:Sometimes Interesting
439:Call of Duty: Warzone
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167:Vozrozhdeniya Island
27:Vozrozhdeniya Island
19:For other uses, see
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1486:Weapons test sites
1314:Vladimir Pasechnik
645:2010-07-28 at the
634:2010-05-28 at the
584:The New York Times
513:2012-08-27 at the
419:In popular culture
368:accidental release
314:in the White Sea,
312:Solovetsky Islands
277:
198:'Rebirth Island';
172:Остров Возрождения
164:
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1309:Kanatjan Alibekov
1092:Researched agents
1011:Weaponized agents
725:978-0-19-092885-8
324:Russian Civil War
316:Gorodomlya Island
208:Vozrojdenie araly
204:Возрождение аралы
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108:45.150°N 59.317°E
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41:Возрождение аралы
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152:1,500 (1980s)
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1319:Sergei Popov
1277:
1246:Laboratory B
1189:Yellow fever
1119:Dengue fever
921:
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897:. 2023-08-19
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366:In 1971, an
365:
361:Soviet Union
332:
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320:Lake Seliger
305:
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236:Soviet Union
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144:Demographics
130:
82:Central Asia
1354: [
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1269: [
1226:BIOPREPARAT
1159:Psittacosis
1139:Melioidosis
1134:Lassa fever
1038:Brucellosis
740:Tom Mangold
699:Big Picture
529:, pp 51-52.
517:, (Series:
469:Biopreparat
353:brucellosis
318:located on
308:Lake Baikal
111: /
87:Coordinates
1440:Categories
1297:Scientists
1174:Rinderpest
1129:Hantavirus
1078:Rice blast
901:2023-09-15
895:Royal Road
780:2021-05-18
611:2019-06-03
589:29 October
564:2015-12-13
491:References
474:Ken Alibek
406:ghost town
376:Ken Alibek
337:bioweapons
294:Nicholas I
286:Konstantin
232:Kazakhstan
228:Uzbekistan
149:Population
136:Uzbekistan
132:Kazakhstan
1367:Accidents
1058:Tularemia
398:starburst
357:tularemia
259:when the
257:peninsula
246:Geography
218:) was an
74:Geography
1278:Aralsk-7
1109:Bird flu
1043:Glanders
1033:Botulism
1018:Smallpox
643:Archived
640:Aral Sea
632:Archived
511:Archived
479:Kantubek
458:See also
444:Alcatraz
394:Kantubek
345:smallpox
301:Red Army
240:Aralsk-7
224:Aral Sea
79:Location
1256:Zagorsk
1083:Polonia
1068:Marburg
1048:Q fever
1023:Anthrax
413:anthrax
390:bacilli
380:anthrax
341:anthrax
280:History
222:in the
99:59°19′E
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349:plague
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212:Uzbek
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871:ISBN
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625:NASA
591:2012
385:and
230:and
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177:IPA:
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