Stepnogorsk, in Kazakhstan, was the only major Soviet germ installation outside the Russian heartland. Called the Scientific Experimental and Production Base, it was known only by its post office box, No. 2076. While Western intelligence analysts had deduced from the configuration of the buildings that it was designed to produce anthrax or other bacteriological agents, they never figured out precisely what kind of research was being done, what weapons the factory was making or what threat it posed. Built on a huge scale on a desolate, wind-blown steppe of Central Asia, it is an eerie place to visit. The security fences are no longer electrified.
Air locks hang open.
Plastic floor covers installed to ease decontamination are torn and buckling from neglect and the cold. Iraq's entire germ production could have just about fit into one of these vats. And Stepnogorsk was only one of six such Soviet plants. As you can see, we haven't made that in some time. Gennadi L. Lepyoshkin, the base's director, told Pentagon experts and a reporter who recently walked through the anthrax plant, which is being dismantled with Pentagon aid.