The substance that killed Navalny was synthesized by the "Signal" center. It also participated in the politician's poisoning in 2020
Scientists from the "Signal" research center, which helped organize Alexei Navalny's poisoning with "Novichok" in 2020, secretly published an article in 2015 on the synthesis of epibatidine analogues, "Agency" found .
Alexei Navalny. Photo Getty Images
In the publication, the authors are presented as employees of a private company, however, thanks to leaks and their previous publications, it was possible to find out that 6 out of 7 participants in the publication are full-time employees of "Signal". Some of them played an important role in the work on the use of "Novichok" and other poisonous substances.
The article was published in the journal "Bulletin of the Academy of Sciences. Chemical Series". It proposes a convenient and faster "one-step method for synthesizing" epibatidine analogues.
The article states that its authors are employees of "High Technologies Laboratory" LLC. In fact, they were not employees of this laboratory, leaks show.
Instead, six of the seven co-authors are full-time employees of "Signal" RC. These are chemists Igor Babkin, Sergey Galan, Georgy Nazarov, and Alexey Aksyonov, Olga Yudina (known to be a senior researcher at the 22nd laboratory of the scientific and production department), and Alexey Lomanov (head of the 23rd laboratory of the scientific and production department).
"Agency" failed to establish a connection with "Signal" for only one co-author – Colonel Mikhail Gutsalyuk. He is the head of the department for the organization of scientific work and training of scientific and pedagogical personnel at the Military Academy of Radiation, Chemical and Biological Defense.
An anonymous Russian chemist, in a comment to The Insider, predicted that epibatidine was synthesized precisely at "Signal".
"Perhaps epibatidine was not obtained at the State Research Institute of Chemical Technologies, but at "Signal": the Diels-Alder reaction, amino group protection, and cyclization – all this is Babkin's direction, and the production of carfentanil, palladium on carbon – this could have been done by Sergey Galan," the article states.
What are the article's authors known for?
The synthesis of epibatidine analogue was led by Babkin, mentioned by the anonymous chemist, wrote Anatoly Verestigin, a leading researcher at the Institute of Organic Chemistry of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Babkin has been working at "Signal" at least since the mid-2010s, leaks show. In the 2000s, Babkin managed to work at the Military Academy of Radiation, Chemical and Biological Defense (RCBD) and, like the director of "Signal" Artur Zhyrau, at the 27th Scientific Center of the Ministry of Defense.
Babkin is a co-author of the 27th RC of the Ministry of Defense's patent for "A method for obtaining methyl 4-[(3,4-dichlorophenyl)acetyl]-3-[(1-pyrrolidinyl)methyl]-1-piperazinecarboxylate". This substance belongs to the same class as carfentanil and remifentanil – toxins used by Russian special services during the seizure of the Dubrovka Theater Center during the 2002 terrorist attack (more than a hundred hostages died from the consequences of using the "sleeping" gas).
Galan and Nazarov are experts in the field of nanoencapsulation, which was very actively studied at "Signal".
Nanoencapsulation is a technology for packaging nanoparticles of a substance in a shell of another substance. It was likely used in the application of "Novichok". With the help of nanoencapsulation, poison can be masked, its symptoms hidden, and diagnosis complicated. Galan and Nazarov studied nanoparticles as a way to deliver "medicinal products" to various tissues of the body, primarily to nerve cells.
As of 2019, Galan combined his work at "Signal" with the position of a researcher at the State Research and Testing Institute of Military Medicine (its head, Sergey Chapur, advised GRU officers who poisoned Sergey and Yulia Skripal).
Another co-author of the "Signal" article, Alexey Aksyonov, describes the extraction of various substances from plants in other scientific works, including those growing in exotic locations. Among them are the roots of the bristly aralia (Oplopanax horridus) from North America and the bark of cinnamon (Cinnamomum) from China, Vietnam, Indonesia, and Sri Lanka.
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