Ukrainian intelligence exposes secret Russian lab complex in Tver region

Ukraine's military intelligence service has announced the discovery of a secret biological laboratory complex built on an island in Russia's Tver region. According to the agency, the facility is used to experiment with dangerous viruses and other pathogens on behalf of Russia's armed forces, with the work possibly amounting to the development of biological weapons. The claim was published on the intelligence service's official Facebook page and reported by Ukrainian outlet Dialog.ua.

Disguised as research

The facility is officially named the "Center for Experimental Physiology" and presents itself as a veterinary and physiological research institution. Since 2023, the area surrounding the island has been closed off — fishing, swimming and boating are banned, and the zones have officially been designated as specially protected nature areas of regional importance.

According to intelligence findings, construction of the complex was ordered by Russian President Vladimir Putin and framed as a site of strategic importance for national "defense capability and security." The island is under heightened guard, with anti-aircraft missile systems providing air defense. Responsibility for the site's security has been placed on Defense Minister Andrei Belousov.

Concerns over drinking water

Intelligence officials note that the island sits within the Vyshny Volochyok reservoir, which supplies drinking water to several populated areas. Should dangerous pathogens or chemicals from the laboratories leak into the water, the consequences could be catastrophic, triggering disease outbreaks not only in the surrounding region but across Russia more broadly.

The intelligence service also pointed to an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease recorded in Russia this past spring, suggesting it may have resulted from experiments conducted at the facility. At the time, mass culling of livestock was reported in several Russian regions, which authorities attributed to outbreaks of diseases such as pasteurellosis and rabies.