New: 2001 law cited by The Los Angeles Times January 2005 article.

by Cheryl Welsh, mindjustice.org
October 11th 2012

Below is a brief summary of his dedicated ten years of russian legislative work on banning mind control weapons, which resulted in the 2001 law above. Further information is available at www.mindjustice.org under Russian Translation Project.

For over ten years, V.N. Lopatin has been prominent and influential in the Russian government. He has advocated the banning of Russian mind control weapons and has taken this cause to the UN. Mr. Lopatin has a law degree and was a member of the state Duma of Russia. His 1999 book, Psychotronic Weapons and the Security of Russia includes an outline of the threat of psychotronic weapons and war and the importance of public relations concerning this global threat. Psychotronic weapons include electromagnetic weapons which target the brain and nervous system. He writes of the proposed Russian federal law 'Informational-psychological safety' concerning the protection and defense of rights and lawful interests of citizens and society.

Mr. Lopatin, is mentioned in two unclassified government documents excerpted below, received under a freedom of information act request. A Moscow Russian Public Television program on Oct 6, 1995 entitled Man and Law, Scientists Discuss Mind Control Technology included an interview of Lopatin.

State Duma expert Yuriy Lopatin calling for legislation banning illegal development and sale of mind-control devices.

...A State Duma expert, Yuriy Lopatin says: "Psychotronic Technology is spreading illegally. A law banning the illegal development, production, retailing, and spreading of psychotronic devices which influence the minds and behavior of citizens is badly needed." He goes on to say: "The use of the mass media for psychological experiments should be banned and all the state-ordered research in human genetic experiments should be strictly registered." This was approved by Georgiy Georgiyevich Rogozin, first Deputy Head of the Presidential Security Service.

See also Bulletin of Atomic Scientist, Jan/Feb. 1991 Renegade Russians Grab For Military Control by Jennifer Scheck Lee which reported, "...Yeltsin's September 1990 choice of Lopatin, a former navy officer equivalent to major, to head the republic's new State Committee on Public Security..." The 1990 Xinhua article excerpt below describes Lopatin's visit with US Defense Secretary Richard Cheney and Lopatin's press conference at the National Press Club.

Cheney will stop over in London on his way to Moscow and in Paris on the way back. William's also disclosed today that yesterday, Cheney met with a young soviet military 'reformer', Major Vladimir Lopatin, and had a 'private conversation' with him. He declined to reveal the contents of the conversation. Lopatin, who addressed a press conference at the national press club here today, is in the United States on a visit hosted by 'Global Outlook,' a research institute.

Lopatin continues to be active in russian government security policy according to the Arminfo News Agency, October 7, 2004 entitled, Armenian Parliamentary Vice Speaker Proposes Elaborating single Approaches to Self-Proclaimed Republics within Framework of CIS. The article described Lopatin as Deputy Director of the National Research Institute of the Prosecutor General's Office of Russia and his work on inclusion of the issue of recognition of the Armenian Genocide into the agenda of the next session of the commission.

Mr. Lopatin is by far, the most powerful and prominent public figure in the world to advocate a ban on mind control weapons. The 2000 Segodnya article below can be found in Lexis-nexus database and includes a great overview of the 2001 law.

What The Papers Say (Russia)

February 14, 2000, THE RIDERS OF THE "PSYCHOTROPIC" APOCALYPSE

SOURCE: Segodnya, February 11, 2000,

BYLINE: Andrei Soldatov

HIGHLIGHT: THE RUSSIAN DEPUTIES INTEND TO DISCUSS THE DRAFT LAW ON INFORMATION SECURITY IN THE COUNTRY. THIS DECISION AROSE FROM THE FACT THAT THE US ALLEGEDLY CREATED A LOT OF DEVICES, WHICH CAN DESTROY INFORMATION SYSTEMS IN RUSSIA AND INFLUENCE THE POPULATION.

(...)

According to "Segodnya," currently the Duma is actively discussing the draft law on the information-psychological security submitted by Vladimir Lopatin. It is possible that the fruit of ten years of work (the works on the draft law began in 1990) will be discussed in the first reading in April.

(...)

Such laws have never been discussed in any country. But this fact does not embarrass the deputies because they discovered that the enemy, which threatens Russia in this sphere, is dreadful and powerful. Secret methods of information-psychological influence can not only harm a person's health, but also lead to "the loss of people's freedom on the unconscious level, the loss of capability of political, cultural and other self-identification, manipulations with social consciousness" and even "the destruction of a common informational and spiritual integrity of the Russian Federation".

At the same time, the law does not explain why the application of these methods is so destructive. During private talks, the developers of this draft law refer to certain "psychotropic weapons". Journalists of "Segodnya" tried to find out if there are any grounds for the rumors about such weapons.

It should be admitted that our potential enemy has compelled us to talk about "psychotropic" or "psychical" weapons. Here is a selective list of the newest American military achievements: portable lasers and isotopic oscillators, which blind enemy soldiers, subsonic generators, which not only disorientate the enemy but also cause nausea and diarrhea, and also noise generators, which influence hostile and excited crowds. Or "water foam," for example. It is a gas which creates a foam that disorientates the enemy.

Almost all these technologies have been developed in the famous laboratory in Los-Alamos within the framework of the national program aimed at creating of so-called non-mortal weapons.

(...)

The non-mortal weapons created in the laboratory in Los-Alamos are closely connected with so-called "information weapons," which allegedly influence battle hardware: according to Alexander Starovoitov, former Director of the Federal Agency of Governmental Liaison and Information (FAGLI), the information weapons represents an arsenal of devices for unauthorized access to information and for destroying electronic control systems. But Russian people believe that such weapons can be used against not only enemy soldiers, but also the population of the country.

In 1996, Timothy Tomas, analyst of the Center for Researching Foreign Armies (Fort Livenwort, Kansas), who studied the prospects of the Russian science in the sphere of information weapons, tried to explain this phenomenon. According to Tomas, historically the Soviet Union conducted research in the sphere of information control. One of the most interesting methods, which makes it possible to manipulate information, is called "a method of reflexive control." The essence of this method is to give the enemy information, which will force it to act as the sender of the information that the other party wants. This theory was created in fiftieth by the first computer center of the Defense Ministry known as military object No.01168.

In addition, Tomas states that the USSR worked on the theory of misinformation, the application of which causes the population of a country to refuse to help its own army during a military conflict.

To all appearances, the Russian military and deputies concluded that Americans have managed to advance further than the Russian scientists in the sphere of manipulating the population after they learned about the new weapons created in the US. This fear has developed into a firm belief when the sums which the US spends for creating information weapons became known. According to FAGLI, the expenditure of the US for creating information weapons has increased by four times during the last 15 years and currently this expenditure takes first place among the expenses for all military programs.

The panic grew, when in 1996, the leadership of FAGLI announced that the effect produced by information weapons can be compared only with weapons of annihilation. FAGLI prepared and published analytical information under the title "Information Weapons as a Threat to the National Security of Russia." As a result in 1997, the Duma and the CIS Inter-Parliamentary Assembly appealed to the UN, OSCE, and the Council of Europe with a proposal to pass an international ban on information wars and demanded that the turnover of information weapons be limited. In March, 1998, this issue was raised at the meeting with General Secretary of the UN Kofi Annan. On the initiative of Russia, this issue was entered into the agenda of the UN General Assembly.

Later, such strict rhetoric was explained. Alexander Starovoitov, former General Director of FAGLI, stated that an information attack may destroy all electronic controlling systems, which are used by the Defense Ministry, and the state infrastructure. The Army and the Navy will not be able to respond to such aggression. The leaders of the country will not be able to receive information about the situation in the country and will not take necessary actions accordingly. Due to the consequences of the use of such weapons, the government decided to allocate additional money for protecting the governmental communications systems...

In addition to FAGLI, the Defense Ministry became interested in information weapons counting on money allocated by the government for the development of such weapons. As a result of the lobbying on the part of the security ministries, the State Commission for Military Construction decided to insert information weapons into the list of the three priority factors of the Russian potential of deterring possible aggressions (together with the Strategic Nuclear Force and the systems of high-precision weapons). Civilian structures wanted to receive money for researching the problem of information-psychological security too. The Research Institute of Psychology of the Russian Academy of Sciences became an active creator of the draft law submitted by Vladimir Lopatin.

The point of view of the special services on this problem is not clear. On the one hand, FAGLI stated that it refuses to give an appraisal to the law before the government announces its official position. On the other hand, an official of FAGLI participated in creating this draft law.