We have already covered how, since the start of the full-scale invasion, Russian propaganda has tried to frighten the world with stories about “American biolabs” in Ukraine. From UN podiums and television screens, Russian officials seriously spoke about infected birds, “ethnically targeted” pathogens, and even combat mosquitoes allegedly aimed at Russians. At the time, these claims looked like a surreal fake. The irony, however, is that it is Russia itself that has taken up the creation of “combat animals” and mind-control technologies.
The media outlet T-Invariant has published an investigation into the Russian startup Neiry, a company working to turn ordinary pigeons into controllable “bio-drones.” According to journalists, the company implants electrodes into the birds’ brains to remotely control their flight.
Unlike the mythical Ukrainian laboratories, everything here is real and backed by money from Russia’s elite. Hundreds of millions of rubles have been invested in the project, including funds from oligarch Vladimir Potanin’s Interros Foundation. Moreover, scientific support for Neiry’s projects is provided by staff of Moscow State University’s Institute of Artificial Intelligence, headed by Katerina Tikhonova, the younger daughter of Vladimir Putin.
A cyborg pigeon with a small electronic “backpack” is only the tip of the iceberg. Far more disturbing are the plans of Neiry’s founder, Alexander Panov, for people. In his blog, the entrepreneur openly reflects on technologies for “selling people to the state” and “correcting” their consciousness.
Residents of occupied territories occupy a special place in his fantasies. Panov writes that Ukrainians, whom he considers carriers of a “Russian cultural code” but “intoxicated by nonsense,” can and should be “reprogrammed.” In the businessman’s view, such neuro-correction of brains would cost the state less than raising new citizens “of its own culture.”
Experts interviewed by T-Invariant remain skeptical about the startup’s technical achievements, describing them as “forced optimism” aimed at acquiring government funding.
Scientists note that an ordinary drone is more effective than cyber-pigeons, while goals such as “reading minds” and controlling consciousness remain unattainable for science. However, the very precedent is revealing. What the Kremlin for years baselessly accused Ukraine and the West of—inhumane experiments on animals and attempts at biological control over people—is now openly declared as a goal of Russian tech startups financed by figures from the closest circle of power.
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