The chemist and another developer of Novice Leonid Rink: "These were control purchases under the supervision of special services"

Photo: Leonid Rink

The Bell managed to contact the chemist Leonid Rink, a former employee of the Gosniht Institute, one of the developers of the Novice system, who was a witness in a high -profile case of the poisoning of banker Ivan Kivividi in 1995.

Kivividi, according to the conclusions of the investigation, was poisoned by the highly toxic substance of the phosphoruscorganic group. According to the Government of Great Britain, a former GRU officer Sergei Skripal and his daughter Julia were poisoned in March from the same group in March. The Russian authorities categorically deny their involvement in the crime.

In the 1990s, Rink was suspected of selling poisonous substances to private individuals. He himself did not deny this during interrogations ( the materials of the Coveredi case this week were published by the New Gazeta). But the case against him was closed, and now he claims that he was selling not military weapons, but drugs to combat rodents and did it under the control of special services. The Bell talked with Rink about who and why he passed the poisons in the 1990s, whether the “beginner” could be in the hands of the criminals and what he was thinking about the Skripals case.

-For a long time you worked at the State Institute of Technology of Organic Synthesis (GITOS), a branch of Gosniiht, where since the 1970s, military poisonous substances of a new class have been developed. Tell us what you did there, why and when you left?

- The first stage of my professional life, not so long and ended more than 20 years ago, was connected with Gitos. In 1987, I won a competition for the post of head of a newly organized biochemical laboratory. And until 1991, I was really associated with the development of secret systems. But then the whole industry was actually banned, and I rebuilt the work of my biochemical laboratory for the synthesis of drugs. We made substances for 16 pharmaceutical plants: drug leprosy preparations for cancer in the terminal stage, anticoagulants. The latter, by the way, are dual -use products, which are used not only in the treatment of thrombosis, but also in the fight against rodents, since they cause internal bleeding.

Actually, everything that I do now has grown up from the 1990s: my previous experience allowed me to switch to the production of highly effective drugs, because poison and medicine are one and the same, just doses are different. So as soon as the synthesis of poisonous substances was prohibited, I painlessly switched to peaceful production.

Since 1991, I have not been involved in a special topic: my mother after the collapse of the Soviet Union was beyond the new borders of the country and seriously fell ill, so I did not sign a new admission to secret work and was engaged only in drugs. Later, when it became clear that there would be no drugs in Gitos, I finally moved to Moscow.

-You were a defendant in one of the most high-profile affairs of the 1990s-the murders of the banker Ivan Kivividi, who was supposedly poisoned by the poison of the “Novice” type. What do you have to do with this matter?

- I acted as a witness. In 1999, when the investigators needed to identify where and what came from, I was as if more of their adviser.

I am really one of the developers of the Novice system. But neither I nor my team never synthesized the A-234 substance itself ( one of the substances of the Novice group.-The Bell ), which is now mentioned in the press. We had no attitude towards him in any capacity. They were engaged in other units of the institute.

A substance, the formula of which is published in the protocols of the Coveredi case, in itself does not pose a public danger. Otherwise, I do not admit the circumstances in which this formula would fall into the media. And this is definitely not the A-234, that is, it is not a “newcomer”. In the criminal case itself, the name "beginner" is also not found.

In the examinations in the Kivividi case, the definition of a “novice” is really not found. The substance that was poisoned by Kivividi is described as highly toxic phosphorus -sorcative compound used in the production of chemical weapons, which was not a "tablety poisonous substance." One of the developers of Novice, chemist Vladimir Korov, who worked in Gosniiht, in an interview with The Bell said that Kivelidi was poisoned by the Novice class substance from the party made in his laboratory. The corner itself, according to him, was repeatedly called on this subject for interrogations. - The Bell.

The materials in the case of Kivividi indicate the formula of the low toxic substance - the holine ether. We synthesized this substance for our experiments and agreed with the investigation that the spectra and the molecular weight of the substance mentioned in the case confirm this structure. From this holine broadcast, with a combination with other substances, you can really create something dangerous and toxic, but it is very difficult to do it. The composition and source of the final highly toxic mixture, which was poisoned by Kivelidi, is not known to me.

- But in the same materials with reference to the head of the Shikhansky city department of the FSB, Sergei Pastushenko, it is indicated that in 1994 there was information about an unauthorized synthesis at your institute of a potent phosphorusporal poisonous substance. It also indicated that in your safe the materials of spectroscopic analysis of the unknown substance were found, having studied which experts came to the conclusion that this is a potent poison and, I quote, “new secret substance”. In 1998, a criminal case was opened against you, and later the investigators connected this substance with the one that Kivividi was killed and called you for interrogations.

- These are unfounded statements. Kivevelidi was killed in 1995, before Pastushenko’s statement. At that time, which Pastushenko spoke about, I did not have a safe at all, hundreds of spectra of substances and mixtures for many years of my work were stored in the folder. Dozens of employees had such spectra at the institute, since it was the main theme of the majority work. I have not had admission to state secret since 1991. My office was in a completely closed zone of production of the drug analgesic "Promedol", I led this zone at that time. From there, nothing could be taken out at all.

- Nevertheless, from your previous testimony it follows that you in your own laboratory with the help of a colleague synthesized a substance comparable in toxicity with combat substance, and then stored it in their garage and sold it to private individuals. In this regard, in 1998, a separate case was allocated from the Coveredi case against you. For example, you said that some bandits demanded money from you, in return you offered them an ampoule with poison.

- Yes. But the materials do not say that these were control purchases under the supervision of special services. I was probably too active a person. He actively played football, on the guitar, performed at conferences, many people knew me. Since I took an active life position, I had a lot of contacts with representatives of special services. Sometimes I performed at their request analytical tasks related to my professional sphere.

- And what happened in these ampoules that you sold several times to private individuals?

- Diphenacin in isopropyl solution. The substance of the anticoagulant causing internal bleeding in rodents. We are still making such drugs.

- And in the special services they knew about this?

- Yes. So everything was in order.

“But why then a criminal case has been brought against you?”

- I drove everywhere. And which of my contacts was good, who was bad, could only be understood over time. And at first, all decent - in jackets, ties.

- One of those to whom you, according to your own testimony, were mistakenly conveyed precisely the highly toxic poisonous substance, was a man named Arthur Talanov. As a result, the investigation came to the conclusion that through it this poison came to the criminals who poisoned Kivividi.

-Talanov, whom we once met, was presented to me as an employee of the Riga riot police, and in the early 1990s we treated such children with reverence. At some point, he or his friend, I don’t remember, asked a question like "how to poison the dog." By accident, instead of diphenacin - poison for rodents - I gave him a holine broadcast, on a business trip it was. Then everything that was related to the institute was considered secret, it is my sin, but once again I emphasize that it is a small toxic substance that is not dangerous in itself, since half of Moscow has its formula today. What and who did further with this substance, I do not suppose.

The formula indicated in the materials of the Coveredi case is indeed a formula for the holine ether, however, two examinations conducted by the specialists of the Institute of Ecology and the Evolution of the Russian Academy of Sciences and Gosniht showed that Kivelidi was poisoned by a substance that belongs to the class of highly toxic phosphorus -sorcative compounds used in the production of chemical weapons. It was also found that 0.0025 g of this substance could kill a person weighing 80-90 kilograms. During interrogations, Rink agreed with the conclusions of experts - The Bell.

- You also testified that back in 1993, your friend, Nikolai Novikov, introduced you to the German Andreas Zeletsand, who introduced himself as the president of Deutsche Bank [The Bell could not find such a person]. You said that you suggested that he invest in the production of Amiticon Pesticide, which was created with elements of a military formula. Have you passed the elements of this formula to foreigners?

- Amiticide “Amiton” is, on the contrary, a German agricultural drug. It really has an element of the formula of the neuro-paralytic poisoning substance VX [ the Novice system was created as its improved analogue. - The Bell ], but this formula is open and is known to everyone. We then tried to apply at least some fragments or components of military themes in the national economy for the production of pesticides or medicines.

- Why was the criminal case against you regarding the transfer of poisonous substances to private individuals, because you actually gave yourself evidence?

- Because in fact, it was not a question of the transmission of dangerous or closed substances [the conclusions of the examinations that Kivividi was poisoned by a substance that belongs to the class of highly toxic phosphorus -sorcative compounds used in the production of chemical weapons, they were not refuted].

- Why did you decide to give an interview with RIA about the “newcomer”, where they told that the British special services themselves could poison the Skripals? You understood that in connection with the case of Kivividi, they will immediately remember about you and begin to ask all these questions.

- It was not my initiative, but I accepted it [ whose initiative it was, Rink did not discuss. - The Bell ]. It was necessary to give an understanding of people - what was called the “Novice” in the media - this is not a drug, but a system of different components that work only during a merger and subsequent explosion. What the press was called in the press is not what we did.

- And Sergey Skripal and his daughter Julia, do you think, was poisoned by the drug "Novice"?

- Now they are already talking not about "newcomers", but simply about nervous agents. And there is OPCW data, let's wait for the result.

- Today, The Times, citing sources in British intelligence, reported that the substance that was poisoned by the Skripals was produced in Shihany, where you worked.

- Thirty years have passed, how can I comment on what happened so long? But most importantly, for thirty years, none of the drugs could be preserved.

Representatives of the FSB did not respond to the request of The Bell about Leonid Rink.

Svetlana Reuters