Episode Details
Back to Episodes
September 4, 1998: Russian Defector - Stanislav Lunev
Published 1 year, 11 months ago
Description
Art Bell interviews Stanislav Lunev, Russia's highest-ranking military defector ever, a former GRU colonel who spent four years spying in Washington D.C. under cover as a TASS news agency correspondent. Lunev describes his intelligence work recruiting American agents and reveals why he chose to defect in 1992, citing the deep corruption connecting Russia's government to organized crime.
The conversation turns to Russia's ongoing military preparations against the United States, which Lunev insists the GRU still considers an inevitable conflict. He discusses the massive underground bunker complex being constructed in the Ural Mountains, comparable in size to the Washington D.C. Beltway, designed to shelter Russia's elite during a nuclear war. He also reveals Russian training of international terrorists, including members of the Aum Shinrikyo cult responsible for the Tokyo subway attack.
Lunev discloses the existence of a Soviet seismic weapons program codenamed Mercury 18, designed to concentrate natural seismic energy and trigger earthquakes at targeted locations. He claims the devastating 1988 Spitak earthquake was a result of weapons testing and discusses the possibility of a Russian-Chinese military alliance directed against the West.
The conversation turns to Russia's ongoing military preparations against the United States, which Lunev insists the GRU still considers an inevitable conflict. He discusses the massive underground bunker complex being constructed in the Ural Mountains, comparable in size to the Washington D.C. Beltway, designed to shelter Russia's elite during a nuclear war. He also reveals Russian training of international terrorists, including members of the Aum Shinrikyo cult responsible for the Tokyo subway attack.
Lunev discloses the existence of a Soviet seismic weapons program codenamed Mercury 18, designed to concentrate natural seismic energy and trigger earthquakes at targeted locations. He claims the devastating 1988 Spitak earthquake was a result of weapons testing and discusses the possibility of a Russian-Chinese military alliance directed against the West.