RUSSIANS USE YEMEN AS LAB FOR 'POISON GAS'

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP69B00369R000200290007-6
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 12, 2016
• Document Release Date: October 7, 2001
• Sequence Number: 7
• Publication Date: July 24, 1967
• Content Type: NSPR

? Our nti!i(nrY affair:; correspond- 'WASHINGTON 1C)ATLY
ent, Pry Croniley, says the Rus- NrWs
signs in are Yemen using
in t 8d E) I NtRelease VJ1/J J~OJ~s5IA-RDP69B00369R000200290007-6
as o ortunt
to test "poison gas" warfare
,chemicals. Page 25.
Russians Use
Yemen as Lab
for 'Poison Gas'
By RAY CROMLEY
HERE is no longer dodbt the
Russians are using Yemen as a
,:proving ground for some of their
advanced "poison gas" warfare
chemicals.
It will be recalled that both
Moscow and Hitler's Nazis used
Spain as a proving ground for
weapons and, tactics they later
used full - scale in World War
If,
The use of Russian man - kill.
ing chemicals in Yemen by Nas.
ser'c Egyptians so worried the
Israelis that they made heavy
purchases of gas masks at the
start of the fighting with Egypt,
the ? Russian chemicals were
supplied to Egypt In the form of
thin - walled "bombs" which
break open and spread their
chemical agents over a wide.
` area.
The Russian . sponsored expe?
riments in Yemen seem to have
been systematic. The Egyptians
Shave not u.~~`d the chemirals
' nerally in fife war. Nasser has
1 ,been using these agents appar.
. ently only in certain areas, The
attacks have been carefully se.
lected, The techniques and the
agents used have varied from
attack to attack.
RUSSIAN BOMBERS
Russian . built II.28s were
used to carry the bombs over
the Yemeni targets. There is
teascn to believe Russian tech-
nicians supervised the aerial at.
tacks and the use of the chemi.
Cal bombs. There is no evidence
that Russians piloted the planes.
The chemicals being used are
of several types. One is.a parti..,
c u I a r I y deadly nerve agent
(Commonly called a nerve gas)
that kills quickly.
Analysis of the fabric found
with the bomb splinters after
one raid showed traces of organ.
r sic ph"pho, .Compounds (de.
noting the presence of killer
nerve agents).
Laboratory examination
showed there chemicals had re-
tlnced blood choline esterase in
human beings and animals. (A
major reduction of choline ester-
ase makes it impossible fort:"
muscles to relax, causing
death).
Differe4 Russian chemical
agents seem to have been tried.,
out in attacks in different i
places. In some areas. accord.-I'
ing to Saudi Arabian medical re-
pnrla. there were Indleallons
several Russian man - killer
chemicals were used in combi?.
nation,
MORE ]EFFECTIVE
lure have r e ported finding
c h r. m i c a I or bacteriological
a;cails used in combination are
more effective as' killers than
when used singly.
The effectiveness of the Rus-
sian chemicals was demonstrat.
ed in the Jan. 5, 1967 raid on
Kitaf, Yemen, The chemicals,
which included nerve agents,
were so effective that Yemeni
who were "only lightly contami.
soled" were made "seriously'
ill." Those caught in the brunt
of the cIt emicaI attack, of
course, were killed outright.
Many of the "lightly contami-
nated" reported will bear the ef-,
feels the rest of their lives.
It is much more difficult to
develop a deadly chemical agent:
effective in wartime situations'
than to develop one that kills ,
effectively in the laboratory.
The R u s s i a n experiments in.
Yemen indicate Moscow's scien-'
fists have developed combina-s
tions that work with deadly effi
ciency tinder battlefield condi.
lions.
The question then arises: howl
good are U.S: defenses against.,
these Russian chemical agents? 1
Approved For Release 2001/11/01 : CIA-RDP69B00369R000200290007-6