Gennadiy N. Lepeshkin: Everyone thinks that biological weapons are weapons for poor countries. That a rich country can afford to produce nuclear weapons, which require a lot of money and major outlays. Biological weapons are more... a type of weapon that calls for fewer expenditures. But they are no less effective, in essence, even than nuclear weapons. There is a special expression, I'll recall it later, one specialist recounted that... the power that had... specifically biological weapons, in terms even of their psychological effect on people. That's why there is merit in using these weapons. So in terms of... if the merit can even be expressed in terms of the fact that... they're inconspicuous when they're put to use, right? That the effect of use is at somewhat of a remove. That is, you can spray it today, someone doesn't get sick until two to three days later, so there's a latent period. It's hard to trace the source, the type of infection, that is,.. to determine what type was used, all of that is, after all... is the advantage of this type of weapon. But on the other hand, this issue isn't being so closely studied in the policy of other... many countries.
Indeed, this weapon, it is now being looked at from the standpoint of terrorists. So, and the job of the governm... special services is precisely to distinguish the question of defense against the use of biological weapons by terrorists. It's a fearsome business, if they are used, and there was this group that tried to use biological and chemical weapons for purposes of terror, and what came of it? That is to say, there is a danger. And we have to pool our efforts to respond to that.