Icon: enlarge
Chemist Vladimir Ugljow: fear, sweating, cramps
Photo: Arthur Bondar / DER SPIEGEL
Vladimir Ugljow does not answer the phone for a long time.
Then he picks up the phone, doesn't even wait for questions, starts to speak immediately: "Thank God the Germans were able to determine the substance in Alexei Navalny's body," says the chemist.
During the Soviet era, he spent 15 years researching the chemical nerve agent Novichok, which made headlines around the world in 2018 when the former double agent Sergej Skripal was poisoned with it in Salisbury, England.
Vladimir Ugljow, born in 1946, chemist, worked after studying in Schichany at the NIIOChT, the state research institute for organic chemistry and technology in Moscow.
The institute looked for new warfare agents on behalf of the military.
Under the guidance of his superior Pyotr Kirpitschow, the scientists discovered there in the 1970s the new generation of neurotoxins that became known as "Novitschok", literally "newcomer".
They belong to the group of organophosphates and are far more toxic than the most toxic substance known to date, the neurotoxin VX developed in the West.
Ugljow lives in Anapa on the Black Sea.
Read more with Spiegel Plus
More perspectives, more understanding.
Your advantages with SPIEGEL +
Icon: Check
DER SPIEGEL as a magazine
as an app, e-paper and on the e-reader
Icon: Check
All articles on SPIEGEL.de
Exclusive texts for SPIEGEL + readers
Icon: Check
Try one month for free
Cancel anytime online
A price
only € 19.99 per month
One month for € 0.00
Try now for 0.00 € Buy nowArrow to the right
Already have a digital subscription? Register here
Restore iTunes subscription
SPIEGEL + is processed via your iTunes account and paid for with a purchase confirmation.
24 hours before it expires, the subscription is automatically renewed by one month at the current price of € 19.99.
You can cancel the subscription at any time in the settings of your iTunes account.
In order to use SPIEGEL + outside of this app, you have to link the subscription to a SPIEGEL ID account immediately after purchase.
With the purchase you accept our general terms and conditions and privacy policy.
