Alberta's Suffield Biological Lab Eyed By Russian Spies, Book Claims
OTTAWA (CP) - An Alberta biodefence laboratory was - and may still be - a prime target of Russian spies out to win the global war for deadly germs and viruses, a newly published book reveals.

In his memoir Biological Espionage, former operative Alexander Kouzminov singles out the Defence Department's Suffield research facility in Ralston, Alta., as one of the "main targets" of Russian intelligence.

Kouzminov, who now lives with his wife in New Zealand, toiled for almost 10 years in the highly secretive Department 12 of Directorate S - the special operations branch of Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service and its forerunner, the Soviet KGB.

Kouzminov says the primary tasks of Department 12 were biological espionage, planning acts of terrorism and sabotage, preparing for biological warfare with the West, and supporting the Soviet, later the Russian, biological weapons program.

The goals were pursued with the help of "Illegals" - Russian spies sent to the West who worked secretly under assumed names and "well-documented cover stories."

Kouzminov warns that during the early 1990s, when Russia's relationship with the West became less frosty, Directorate S never took the thaw to heart.

"For us that meant: while favourable circumstances exist it is essential to utilize the respite to deploy to the West as many Illegals as possible and to cultivate and recruit more special agents."

He estimates that about 60 people, including Illegals, special agents and friendly sources, carried out Department 12's tasks overseas in the 1990s, "and possibly as many still do today."

Defence Research and Development Canada's facility at Suffield, Alta., which dates from the Second World War era, is a leader in exploring means of defending against chemical and biological warfare agents.

It is listed by Kouzminov among dozens of "main targets" in North America, Britain, France, Germany and Israel.

Though the Suffield centre is the only Canadian organization mentioned by name, the former spy notes Department 12 was interested in other types of facilities in all NATO countries, including high-level containment labs dealing with dangerous pathogens, infectious diseases and means to combat biological and toxin warfare.

A spokesman for the Suffield facility did not return a phone call Wednesday.

The book says by the end of the 1980s it became apparent the West did not have a genuine offensive biological warfare program, unlike the Soviet Union, which had begun the mass production and storage of "highly effective" weapons.

"We discovered that, at the time, western countries were absolutely unprepared to face our weapons if the Soviet Union (or, later, Russia) had started a biological war against the main enemy, the U.S.A. and the NATO countries."

Meanwhile, Department 12 was busy collecting samples of biological materials and secret documents obtained by Illegals and special agents.

Sometimes these were delivered to Moscow by means of a urgent channel codenamed VOLNA, or wave, via an international flight of the Soviet Aeroflot airline.

Active and often deadly biological materials, including micro-organisms, pathogens and biotoxins, were stashed in the pilots' cabin.

Kouzminov, who left Russia in late 1994, says he decided to break his silence about the clandestine work following the 9/11 terrorist attacks "and the subsequent potential and quite serious threat of biological terrorism and sabotage around the world."

A new International Biological Security Agency, under the auspices of the United Nations, is needed to control the problem, argues Kouzminov, who works as an adviser to New Zealand's health ministry.

"Having been, so to speak, a poacher, I am now a gamekeeper," he writes.

"It seems unbelievable to me that I am working in an organization in a western country that my former Department 12 colleagues would regard as a worthy espionage target."