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At the State Research Testing Institute of Military Medicine of the Defense Ministry (GNIII VM MO), tests of munitions and drugs are being conducted on volunteers. This was reported by Proekt. According to the journalists, this research institute is one of the key participants in the development of Russian chemical weapons.
As Proekt found, since 2015 the institute has remained the only Defense Ministry institution permitted to conduct experiments on humans. In an article for Voenny Zhurnal, the head of GNIII VM MO, Sergey Chepur, wrote that drug testing affects higher nervous activity, so experiments cannot be limited to animals alone. Healthy volunteer servicemen take part in the testing.
For this research, the institute opened a 100-bed scientific clinical center in 2018. Its structure includes intensive care, internal medicine and surgical departments, as well as an anesthesiology and resuscitation unit.
According to Chepur, the institute tested, among other things, 122 mm and 300 mm artillery munitions on volunteers. The purpose was to determine the type and power of shells needed “for destroying or disabling enemy manpower.” At the testing ground, sites were set up to imitate the fortification structures of Russia and NATO.
During the tests at the range, researchers assessed the condition of the participants’ nervous and cardiovascular systems, took samples, and determined how disorders depended on the distance from the shot. Volunteers were recorded as having blood pressure problems, changes in the vascular and nervous systems, and suppression of sensory and logical functions.
In addition, servicemen were used to test drugs intended to increase performance, protective means against extreme factors, and new equipment and gear.
As Proekt writes, Chepur advised GRU officers who in 2018 tried to poison former intelligence officer Sergei Skripal and his daughter in the United Kingdom. According to the journalists, more than 3,500 people are now working in structures involved in creating poisons in Russia.