Russia really can be a very odd place:
Russia has banned the export of medical specimens
after the country’s spy agency allegedly uncovered a Western plot to
manufacture a biological weapon that would make Russians sterile.
In
a decree that appeared to reflect the Russian state’s growing suspicion
of all things Western, the Federal Customs Service forbade the shipment
of all human blood, hair, DNA and bone marrow out of the country.
While
officials gave no formal explanation for the ban, Russia’s most
respected broadsheet suggested that the customs service had been
ordered to act after the Federal Security Service, the KGB’s successor,
handed an alarming report to President Vladimir Putin earlier this
month.
Quoting unidentified sources, Kommersant said that foreign health
institutions were using human specimens to create a "genetically
engineered biological weapon" capable of rendering the Russian
population sterile or even of killing it off altogether.
While such a fear would appear entirely nonsensical to us a substantial portion of the Russian population would believe this without qualification.
As I say, just a very odd place.
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