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Genetic Weapons Against Russians: A Biologist's Opinion
Host Kirill Pozdnyakov mentioned the problem of information leaks regarding the project to create a genetic database of Russians. Konstantin Severinov emphasized that there is no need to worry about virtual leaks, despite the fact that this issue is often associated with the creation of genetic weapons. According to him, it is impossible to create a weapon that would act exclusively against certain racial groups.
Konstantin Severinov, Director of the Center for Whole Genome Sequencing: "This is often connected with the issue of genetic weapons against a particular ethnic group. Let's consider a situation where a state hostile to us is trying to create a weapon aimed at the Russian population. From the point of view of modern science, this is impossible in principle. At the same time, we must understand that no one is going to confirm the assertion that this is possible."
The problem is that such weapons will have to be able to "distinguish" the genomes of people of different nationalities. However, the professor noted that only by considering small countries can one talk about the specificity of the genome in terms of ethnicity.
Konstantin Severinov: "Small ethnic groups historically migrated to territories and controlled these territories for a long time, which arose thanks to small groups of founders, who were all actually related to each other. That is why they often look like distant relatives... So, for small indigenous peoples, especially for our country, there are certainly characteristic properties that allow us to talk with reasonable probability about the belonging of a given genome conditionally. To Nanai or Karachay."
Konstantin Severinov: “Looking at Russian, German and English, it is very difficult to understand what it really is. Ultimately, it is the result of the merger of several previously existing separate groups to form a single cultural and civilizational space. They certainly exist as people. They are a great people, but, unlike smaller nations, they have lost part of their genetic identity. Good news again. Because as soon as we start talking about genetic weapons, Russians are, in a genetic sense, the smallest of the inhabitants of our country who can enjoy its inherent prosperity. Like any other large people, there are also Bashkirs and Tatars. All this turned out to be an amalgam, a very complex mixture. And it is very difficult to single out something so special. “There is, of course, cultural wealth, but relatively little genetic wealth.”