'Vozrozhdeniya Island, also known as Rebirth Island (oʻzbekcha/ўзбекча. 'Tiklanish orollari'; русский. 'Остров Возрождения, Ostrov Vozrozhdeniya), is a former island, now a peninsula, in the Aral Sea. It became a peninsula in 2002, due to ongoing shrinkage of the Aral Sea. It is now shared by Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.
This article is about the island. For the album by folk metal band Arkona, see Vozrozhdeniye.
Located in the central Aral Sea, Vozrozhdeniya Island was one of the main laboratories and testing sites for the Soviet Union government’s Microbiological Warfare Group. In 1948, a top-secret Soviet bioweapons laboratory was established here. Word of the island's danger was further spread by Soviet defectors, including Ken Alibek, the former head of the Soviet Union's bioweapons program. It was here, according to just released documents, that anthrax spores and bubonic plague bacilli were made into weapons and stored. The main town on the island was Kantubek, which lies in ruins today, but once had approximately 1,500 inhabitants.
The laboratory staff members abandoned the island in 1992. Many of the containers holding the spores were not properly stored or destroyed, and over the last decade many of the containers have developed leaks. As the Aral Sea continues to recede, the area will eventually connect further with the surrounding land. Many scientists fear that animals will move to the surrounding land and eventually carry these deadly biological agents out.
