Kolokol-1 (Russian: ко́локол for "bell"; pronounced [ˈkoɫəkəɫ]) is a synthetic opioid developed for use as an aerosolizable incapacitating agent. The exact chemical structure has not yet been revealed by the Russian government. It was originally thought by some sources to be a derivative of the potent opioid fentanyl, most probably 3-methylfentanyl dissolved in an inhalational anaesthetic as an organic solvent. However, independent analysis of residues on the Moscow theater hostage crisis hostages' clothing or in one hostage's urine found no fentanyl or 3-methylfentanyl. Two much more potent and shorter-acting agents, carfentanil (a large animal tranquilizer) and remifentanil (a surgical painkiller), were found in the samples. They concluded that the agent used in the Moscow theater hostage crisis contained two fentanyl derivatives much stronger than fentanyl itself, sprayed in an aerosol mist.
Development and early use According to Lev Fyodorov, a former Soviet chemical weapons scientist who now heads the independent Council for Chemical Security in Moscow, the agent was originally developed at a secret military research facility in Leningrad (now restored to its historic name of Saint Petersburg), during the 1970s. Methods of dispersing the compound were reportedly developed and tested by releasing harmless bacteria through subway system ventilation shafts, first in Moscow and then in Novosibirsk. Fyodorov also claimed that leaders of the failed August 20, 1991, Communist coup considered using the agent in the Russian parliament building.
Use during Moscow theater hostage crisis
Kolokol-1 is thought to be the chemical agent employed by a Russian Spetsnaz team during the Moscow theater hostage crisis in October 2002. At least 129 hostages died during the ensuing raid; nearly all of these fatalities were attributed to the effects of the aerosolised incapacitating agent that was pumped into the theatre to subdue the militants. The gas was later stated by Russian Health Minister Yuri Shevchenko to be based on fentanyl. Minister Shevchenko's statement followed speculation that the gas employed at the theater violated international prohibitions on the manufacture and use of lethal chemical weapons, and came after a request for clarification about the gas from Rogelio Pfirter, director-general of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons. The minister stressed that the drug fentanyl used in the gas, which is widely used as a pain medication, "cannot in itself be called lethal". Shevchenko attributed the hostage deaths to the use of the chemical compound on the poor physical condition of the victims after three days of captivity - dehydrated, hungry, lacking oxygen and suffering acute stress, saying "I officially declare that chemical substances of the kind banned under international conventions on chemical weapons were not used," according to the Interfax news agency. This comment is disputed on two grounds. First, the United States Ambassador to Russia at the time complained that delays on the part of the Russian government in identifying the exact nature of the active agent in the gas led to many hostage deaths which might otherwise have been avoided. Second, a team of researchers based at the United Kingdom's chemical and biological defense laboratories at Porton Down, Wiltshire, England, subjected residues of the gas from clothing worn by two British survivors, and urine from a third survivor who survived the gas attack after hospital treatment to liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry analysis. They found no fentanyl, but did find two other, much more potent and potentially toxic drugs, carfentanil and remifentanil. The specific antidote for carfentanil is naloxone. This report goes on to state
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