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Molecular Genetics of the USSR Academy of Sciences, a curtain In order to widen the geographic scope of bio-electronic of secrecy dropped over his work. research, Popov institutes in Leningrad, Kiev, Alma Ata, The KGB reorganised the Popov laboratory in 1978 along lines Kishinev, Taganrog, Minsk and Tallin were urged to establish that favoured military-oriented research. The new unit, under the similar laboratories and engage psychics for experiments. direction of academician Yuri Kobzarev, was established after In addition to having KGB guidance, the Bio-Electronics three years of soul-searching. Laboratory had military representatives among its officers. The Professor Kobzarev was considered by Moscow researchers as full extent and the purpose of the military interests remain vague a sound scientist but, to the degree that this was possible within due to lack of documentation. However, it is known that the mili- Soviet society, something of a "political innocent". As such, he tary presence was large. occupied the position of an academic figurehead for the new Among 18 members selected on 31 October 1978, two were Laboratory for Bio-Electronics, while the day-to-day functions of senior scientists at the Soviet Ministry of Defence—Jan I. the unit rested in the firm hands of his deputy, a KGB functionary Koltunov and Nikolai A. Nosov—and a third, Mikhail A. who had been active within the old Sukhikh, was a Candidate of Military laboratory and was instrumental in its Sciences at the Ministry of Defence. eventual dissolution. An appraisal of the KGB's role in Debates regarding "inhumane" pro- Russian parapsychology must irets oven arowe. etermined to avoid In addition to having KGB acknowledge that re agency was an these, the authorities did not permit . . . ever-present fact of Soviet life, rather within the unit's secretariat, its council guidance, the Bio-Electronics than an omnisciently sinister force. or the laboratory team the presence of Laboratory had military Ths. when we observe that the KGB anyone who might oppose "inhumane . : slowly tightened its hold on psi studies, projects. To enforce this policy, a representatives among its we can simply take this to mean that weriet Screening process as estab officers. with a lot of backing ane ting " “ ished, complete wi ules for started to take psychic potentia Admittance to Membership in the seriously, examine it more closely and Central Public Laboratory for Bio- guide its use towards serious applica- Electronics" (7 December 1978). tions. The rules specified that all potential Evidence for this interest can be staff members had to be interviewed by the lab's directors, com- found in diverse areas. When émigré August Stern reported on mit themselves in writing to adhere to the rules, file two passport- the carefully guarded operations of a laboratory in Novosibirsk, type portrait photographs and submit a statement of three to four _—hhe made two significant references to the KGB's role: in the oper- pages showing "familiarity with bio-electronic problems". The ation of this unit in particular, and in psi studies in general. He laboratory, in turn, established a file on each individual and issued expressed the belief that two visitors who had inspected the an identity card. Novosibirsk installations during its early days were KGB men, Once admitted to the staff, members were forbidden to give lec- and he stated that experiments in Leningrad and Novosibirsk were tures or publish papers "without the laboratory's prior permis- later reported to have been combined under one Moscow labora- sion". They were not permitted to "engage in any research con- tory, operated under KGB auspices. cerning the structure or the improved quality of biofields" outside Stern understood in 1974 that all psi tests had been curtailed, the laboratory, without the prior permission of the Scientific- except for within the "secret KGB laboratory"; but when he was Technological Section. told that something "important" and "very dangerous" had been discovered in the course of these laboratory experiments, Stern said: "I never believed it. How can the KGB do effective research? They need real scientists." Speaking from the elitist viewpoint of a scientist, Stern may well have underestimated the results that can be achieved under police pressure, if not guidance. One American researcher stated bluntly: "The KGB simply discovered or decided that parapsychology phenomena are real, that they work, that all theoretical wrangling be damned, and that the only thing that counts are results—and they just went ahead, full steam, to get more reliable results to suit their 'specific aims'." The pattern of the KGB's rule in Soviet psi research that emerged was one of increasing secrecy about actual research within the USSR, accompanied by fluctuat- ing tolerance of encouragement of the expo - sure of peripheral, irrelevant or even inaccu- rate information concerning Soviet studies. must In addition to having KGB guidance, the Bio-Electronics Laboratory had military representatives among its officers. 36 = NEXUS ee at www.nexusmagazine.com AUGUST - SEPTEMBER 2001