Visiting the Now Demolished Secret Soviet Bioweapons Lab of Aralsk 7 on Vozrozhdeniya Island  

Updated November 2026, Visiting the Now Demolished Secret Soviet Bioweapons Lab of Aralsk 7 on Vozrozhdeniya Island was originally published in December 2021

Gauging by the name, you can probably imagine our confusion as we trundled past a wood-and-wire gate and approached what was once one of the Soviet Union’s most secretive military installations. There was absolutely nothing on the horizon aside from scrubby desert plants, sand, and the occasional crumbling remnant of a building.

We had finally arrived at Aralsk-7, the former Soviet biological weapons testing facility on Vozrozhdeniya Island in the Aral Sea. Nearby sat the abandoned settlement of Kantubek, once home to approximately 1,500 military personnel, scientists, and support staff who lived and worked at the isolated facility.

Established during the Soviet biological weapons program, Aralsk-7 was used to test deadly pathogens including anthrax, plague, smallpox, and tularemia. The installation operated for decades, remaining largely unknown to the outside world until the collapse of the Soviet Union.

After driving for around six hours from Nukus through the remote landscapes of Karakalpakstan, we finally reached the site. Much to our disappointment, most of the former facilities and buildings had already been demolished. We spent some time wandering around the remains of Kantubek, its former Barkhan Airfield, and what little was left of this once-secret military complex.

Here’s what we found at Aralsk-7, the history behind the Soviet bioweapons testing ground, and what happened to Vozrozhdeniya Island.

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What Was Aralsk-7?

The product of Stalinist-era paranoia and a bioweapons arms race, a top-secret Soviet bioweapons lab was established in 1948, located on the newly(ish) formed Vozrozhdeniya Island, smack in the middle of the Aral Sea.

Aralsk-7 was the Soviet Union’s top-secret biological weapons testing facility on Vozrozhdeniya Island in the Aral Sea. Officially established in 1954, the site became one of the country’s principal proving grounds for testing biological warfare agents in open-air conditions.

The facility was developed as part of the Soviet Union’s biological weapons program, which sought to research, develop, and test pathogens that could potentially be used as weapons. Experiments conducted on Vozrozhdeniya Island involved deadly diseases including anthrax, bubonic plague, smallpox, tularemia, brucellosis, Q fever, and Venezuelan equine encephalitis.

The island was selected for its isolation. Located far from major population centers and surrounded by the waters of the Aral Sea, Vozrozhdeniya offered the Soviet military a relatively remote location where it could conduct dangerous experiments away from populated areas. Its hot, dry climate and sandy soil were also considered advantageous because they reduced the likelihood of pathogens surviving for extended periods.

The first Soviet biological weapons experiments on the island actually began in 1936, when the Red Army conducted open-air testing involving tularemia. That initial expedition was evacuated in 1937 following political purges and security problems within the Soviet military. Research resumed in the early 1950s, and the much larger Aralsk-7 testing complex was established in 1954.

Aralsk-7 operated until the collapse of the Soviet Union. The military abandoned the facility in 1992, leaving behind laboratories, military infrastructure, a residential settlement, and a substantial environmental remediation problem.

For decades, the existence and activities of Aralsk-7 remained largely concealed. It was only after the Soviet Union dissolved that defectors, researchers, and subsequently declassified information began revealing the extent of the biological weapons experiments conducted on Vozrozhdeniya Island.

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Kantubek: The Abandoned Ghost Town

Kantubek was the residential settlement built to accommodate the scientists, military personnel, and support workers stationed at Aralsk-7. At its height, the isolated town had a population of approximately 1,500 people, making it a surprisingly substantial settlement considering its location in the middle of the Aral Sea.

Despite its remote location, Kantubek had much of the infrastructure you’d expect in an ordinary Soviet town. There was a school, cinema, bakery, canteen, laundromat, grocery store, stadium, and other facilities intended to make life on the island more manageable for its residents.

Life in Kantubek was undoubtedly unusual. The town was almost entirely self-contained, with its residents living in an isolated military community surrounded by desert and water. Access to the outside world depended heavily on the island’s airfield and transport connections.

Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, the military abandoned Vozrozhdeniya Island in 1992, and Kantubek was left behind. For years, its buildings slowly deteriorated under the harsh desert conditions, with the former town becoming a ghost town in the middle of the Aral Sea.

When we visited, much of Kantubek had already been demolished. Rather than the abandoned apartment blocks and Soviet-era buildings we had imagined, we found scattered concrete fragments, broken tiles, exposed cables, and other remnants of the settlement disappearing into the encroaching Aralkum Desert.

It was a strange feeling wandering around a place that had once housed 1,500 people and was deliberately kept off the map. There wasn’t much left to see, but the sheer emptiness made it easier to imagine just how isolated life here must have been.

Where Is Aralsk-7?

Aralsk-7 is located on Vozrozhdeniya Island in the former Aral Sea, in northwestern Uzbekistan. The island was historically shared between Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, although the former biological weapons testing complex is located in the Uzbek-controlled portion.

The site is situated in the remote Karakalpakstan region, surrounded by the vast desert landscapes of the former Aral Sea basin. The nearest major regional city is Nukus, from where the journey to the former Kantubek settlement takes several hours by road.

One of the most unusual aspects of Vozrozhdeniya Island is that it is no longer entirely surrounded by water. As the Aral Sea dried up, the island became connected to the mainland, transforming what was once an isolated island into part of the surrounding desert landscape.

The shrinking Aral Sea fundamentally changed the geography of the region, as well as the accessibility of the former Soviet military installation.

Can You Visit Aralsk-7 and Kantubek?

Aralsk-7 and the abandoned settlement of Kantubek are located in an extremely remote part of Karakalpakstan, Uzbekistan. Although the shrinking Aral Sea has connected Vozrozhdeniya Island to the mainland, reaching the former testing ground is still a substantial undertaking.

We visited the site after driving for approximately six hours from Nukus, traveling across remote desert terrain before reaching the remains of Kantubek and Barkhan Airfield.

Much of the former settlement and laboratory infrastructure had already been demolished by the time of our visit. Rather than an intact abandoned Soviet town, we found scattered remnants of buildings, concrete foundations, and the old runway configuration.

The History of Vozrozhdeniya Island

Vozrozhdeniya Island, whose name translates from Russian as “Rebirth Island,” was once one of the most isolated and secretive locations in the Soviet Union. Situated in the middle of the Aral Sea, the island was selected as a biological weapons testing ground because of its remote location and distance from major population centers.

Before becoming associated with the Soviet biological weapons program, the island was known as Nicholas I Island, part of a group historically called the Tsar Islands. Russian naval expeditions surveyed the area in the mid-19th century, with the expedition led by A.I. Butakov taking place in 1848–1849.

During the Soviet period, the island’s strategic importance changed dramatically. In the 1930s, Soviet military researchers began conducting biological experiments here, and in 1936, an expedition led by Ivan Mikhailovich Velikanov carried out open-air testing involving tularemia.

The expedition was evacuated in 1937 amid political purges and security problems. Velikanov was arrested and executed, while other researchers involved in the program were also caught up in Stalin’s purges.

In 1948 the bioweapons lab was officially created and in 1954 Aralsk-7 was officially born.

Biological weapons research resumed in the early 1950s. By 1954, the Soviet Union had established the much larger Aralsk-7 testing facility on Vozrozhdeniya and nearby Komsomol Island.

For the next several decades, Vozrozhdeniya remained a highly restricted military site. Its isolation helped conceal the activities taking place there, while the surrounding Aral Sea provided a natural barrier between the testing grounds and the mainland.

That isolation wouldn’t last forever, however. As the Aral Sea continued to shrink due to Soviet-era irrigation projects, the island gradually became connected to the surrounding mainland. By 2001, Vozrozhdeniya was no longer an island in the traditional sense, creating new concerns about access to the abandoned biological weapons testing grounds.

Barkhan Airfield: The Abandoned Soviet Runways

Just west of Kantubek sat Barkhan Airfield, the former airport serving Aralsk-7 and its isolated population of military personnel and scientists.

One of the most unusual features of Barkhan Airfield was its distinctive layout. Rather than having the conventional one or two runways found at most airports, Barkhan featured four runways arranged in a starburst pattern.

The unusual design was intended to accommodate the constantly changing wind conditions on Vozrozhdeniya Island. With four different runway orientations, aircraft could use whichever strip offered the most favorable conditions for landing and takeoff.

Barkhan Airfield was an important connection between the remote island and the rest of the Soviet Union, transporting personnel, supplies, and other essential materials to the Aralsk-7 complex.

When we visited, the runways were still visible, although the surrounding airport infrastructure had largely disappeared. The airport buildings and air traffic control booth had been demolished, leaving the unusual runway configuration as one of the more recognizable remnants of the former settlement.

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Deadly Incidents at Aralsk-7 and Vozrozhdeniya Island

Smallpox Outbreak in Aralsk, 1971

In 1971, a smallpox outbreak occurred in Aralsk, Kazakhstan, raising serious questions about the biological weapons experiments taking place on nearby Vozrozhdeniya Island.

A 24-year-old fisheries researcher aboard the Soviet research vessel Lev Berg became infected after the ship passed approximately 15 kilometers from the island. She returned to Aralsk, where the disease spread to other people.

Ultimately, 10 people contracted smallpox during the outbreak, and three died. The city was placed under quarantine, and a massive vaccination campaign was launched to prevent further transmission.

The source of the infection was never conclusively established in the original Soviet investigation. However, subsequent research by scientists examining the outbreak concluded that the most likely explanation was an accidental release of smallpox during biological weapons testing on Vozrozhdeniya Island.

The incident remains one of the most disturbing examples of how the secret experiments conducted at Aralsk-7 may have affected civilians living far beyond the island itself.

The 1972 Bubonic Plague Incident

In 1972 two fishermen were reported missing on the Aral Sea by family members after they failed to return home.

Their boat was later discovered drifting on the sea. Both men were found dead with doctors diagnosing that they had been infected with the plague. 

50,000 Saiga Instantly Dead in 1988

Within a 60 minute timeframe in May 1988, 50,000 Saiga antelope that were grazing on a nearby steppe mysteriously dropped dead, though it’s unanimously suspected that some type of biological leak or release infected the animals. 

Netting Dead Catches

From the 1950s through the 1990s there were several accounts by local fishers from around the Ara Sea catching whole nets of dead fish. 

The Unmarked Grave of a Scientist: Mishandled Bioweapons

An unmarked grave was discovered in the past decade near the laboratory complex at Aralsk 7. Soon after, Russian defectors revealed that the grave contained the remains of a female scientist who died due to an infection contracted on Vozrozhdeniya as she was handling bioweapons. As expected, her death and the incident were never recorded.

Of course, these are just a few examples of incidents that took place on Vozrozhdeniya Island, though many many more are suspected and it’s not expected that Russian authorities will ever release information on all the events that took place. The Soviets kept such a tight seal over the happenings on the island that the first revealed of these incidents was never uncovered until 2002, 10 years after Vozrozhdeniya was evacuated.

The full history of Aralsk-7 remains incomplete. The Soviet biological weapons program was shrouded in secrecy, and much of what is known today has come from defectors, declassified documents, and subsequent investigations. Even decades after the facility was abandoned, questions remain about the full extent of the experiments conducted on Vozrozhdeniya Island and their consequences for the surrounding region.

The Mysterious Grave at Kantubek

As we started driving away from Kantubek, we noticed what looked like a small structure sitting atop a mound to our right, just south of the former biochemical training grounds. Naturally, curiosity got the better of us, so we stopped and hiked up to investigate.

By this point, the sun had dipped below the horizon, and it was getting nearly pitch black. When we reached the top, we discovered that the structure was actually a grave, marked with a star.

We tried to make out the inscription on the placard, but the fading light made it difficult. The one thing we could decipher was the name Maria.

Who Maria was, what her role at Aralsk-7 might have been, and why she was buried here remain unclear. It was an unexpected discovery in an already unusual place, and one that left us with more questions than answers.

Wanna visit another bizarre destination in Uzbekistan? Check out the Solar Furnace just outside Tashkent

South Ustyurt National Park and the Future of Vozrozhdeniya Island

Upon our return to Kungrad, I contacted Sophie Ibbotson who has served as the Uzbekistan Tourism Ambassador to the UK to ask if she had any details on the destruction of the facilities at Kantubek and Aralsk 7. As we chatted about it, she did inform me that the Uzbek government had designated the Aral Sea region as the South Ustyurt National Park in November 2020. 

The South Ustyurt National Park was created to help preserve the unique biodiversity of the Ustyurt Plateau and Aralkum Desert, including the endangered Saiga antelope. The Saiga Conservation Alliance has already begun receiving funding for a joint conservation and tourism project to start rehabilitating desert fauna (evidence of this was apparent as we trundled the dirt road to Vozrozhdeniya Island) as well as the Saiga population. 

Another venture part of the South Ustyurt National Park is the epic dark skies experienced on Vozrozhdeniya. Given its remote location, there is little light pollution in the vast area, making it a great potential addition to the IDA Dark Sky Reserve. 

What Does the Future Hold for Vozrozhdeniya Island Now?

It seems uncertain what all will happen on Vozrozhdeniya Island now that it’s been declared as part of the South Ustyurt National Park, aside from the desert flora and fauna and Saiga conservation that are already underway.

Have any questions about visiting the former site of Aralsk-7 and the former town of Kantubek on Vozrozhdeniya Island?

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