1 00:00:02,520 --> 00:00:06,520 Speaker 1: Media. Something strange is going on. Another member of the 2 00:00:06,640 --> 00:00:08,119 Speaker 1: Russian elite has been found dead. 3 00:00:08,880 --> 00:00:11,240 Speaker 2: Reports suggests that he fell out of a window poisoned 4 00:00:11,240 --> 00:00:12,039 Speaker 2: with mushrooms. 5 00:00:12,039 --> 00:00:14,000 Speaker 3: He died of heart failure, died. 6 00:00:13,840 --> 00:00:17,040 Speaker 1: Of carbon monoxide poisoning. How comes you are they? 7 00:00:18,120 --> 00:00:22,959 Speaker 3: Dozens of Russian oligarchs politically motivated millionaires have died in 8 00:00:23,000 --> 00:00:28,000 Speaker 3: the space of three years, most of them in suspicious circumstances. 9 00:00:28,400 --> 00:00:32,199 Speaker 3: Many have hidden links to the Kremlins. This is sad 10 00:00:32,200 --> 00:00:37,960 Speaker 3: Oligach Season two, an ongoing investigation into these recently dead 11 00:00:38,159 --> 00:00:42,880 Speaker 3: Russian power brokers. Sad Oligach is created by me jake 12 00:00:43,000 --> 00:00:47,960 Speaker 3: Hanrahan and my Ukrainian colleague, Sergey Slipchenkok. This is a 13 00:00:48,159 --> 00:01:04,399 Speaker 3: H eleven studio and Coolso Media production. August three, a 14 00:01:04,520 --> 00:01:08,199 Speaker 3: rocket scientist by the name of Vitally Melnikov is laid 15 00:01:08,200 --> 00:01:12,280 Speaker 3: in a Moscow hospital bed. He's trapped under a nest 16 00:01:12,280 --> 00:01:15,039 Speaker 3: of medical tubes and wires that are keeping him alive. 17 00:01:16,920 --> 00:01:20,440 Speaker 3: Seventy seven years old, Melnikov is hardly in the prime 18 00:01:20,480 --> 00:01:26,120 Speaker 3: of his life. Death is imminent. At some point in 19 00:01:26,160 --> 00:01:31,160 Speaker 3: the past four weeks, Melnikov managed to consume poison mushrooms. 20 00:01:33,520 --> 00:01:37,000 Speaker 3: When your body digests deadly mushrooms. The poison spreads through 21 00:01:37,040 --> 00:01:40,760 Speaker 3: your blood. Fast toxins head straight for the liver and 22 00:01:40,760 --> 00:01:44,080 Speaker 3: the kidneys. They bind to enzymes in the cells the 23 00:01:44,120 --> 00:01:49,040 Speaker 3: body needs to produce proteins. Once this happens, the cells 24 00:01:49,200 --> 00:01:55,160 Speaker 3: shut down that protein synthesis. You start to die. Just 25 00:01:55,200 --> 00:01:59,480 Speaker 3: twenty four hours after consuming the poison mushrooms, Melnikov began 26 00:01:59,760 --> 00:02:05,240 Speaker 3: via throwing up. He was chronically unwell, profuse, sweating, intense 27 00:02:05,280 --> 00:02:10,440 Speaker 3: stomach cramps, blood in the toilet. His body dehydrated first, 28 00:02:11,200 --> 00:02:14,799 Speaker 3: blood pressure tanked, heart going like the Clappers, total dizziness 29 00:02:14,800 --> 00:02:19,119 Speaker 3: and disorientation. The day later in his liver is being 30 00:02:19,160 --> 00:02:24,640 Speaker 3: disintegrated by the toxins. He goes yellow jaundice, His kidneys fail, 31 00:02:25,040 --> 00:02:28,320 Speaker 3: he gets nosebleeds that don't stop for ages. It's blood 32 00:02:28,320 --> 00:02:34,720 Speaker 3: one clot now within a weak. Multiple organs begin to fail, lungs, liver, 33 00:02:35,080 --> 00:02:44,720 Speaker 3: skin sepsis moves to the gut. The gut leaks caustic 34 00:02:44,760 --> 00:02:48,560 Speaker 3: bacteria into the bloodstream and in and out cycle of 35 00:02:48,639 --> 00:02:53,079 Speaker 3: toxins destroying the body. The liver tries to cleanse itself 36 00:02:53,120 --> 00:02:57,120 Speaker 3: and recycle the poison, but instead it concentrates it and 37 00:02:57,200 --> 00:03:02,160 Speaker 3: makes the damage, worse and worse. Despite the critical care 38 00:03:02,160 --> 00:03:06,560 Speaker 3: Melnikov receives at the Moscow Intensive care unit, it's far 39 00:03:06,639 --> 00:03:12,680 Speaker 3: too late. He's got brain swelling, internal bleeding, full organ shutdown. 40 00:03:13,880 --> 00:03:17,640 Speaker 3: The rocket scientist slides off his mortal coil and enters 41 00:03:17,680 --> 00:03:33,240 Speaker 3: the Cosmos for real dead. No, you might be wondering 42 00:03:33,480 --> 00:03:37,680 Speaker 3: why Vitali Melnikov is in this series. It was not 43 00:03:37,720 --> 00:03:42,000 Speaker 3: a billionaire Russian lobbyist or anything like that. As I've said, 44 00:03:42,120 --> 00:03:45,880 Speaker 3: he worked in the rocket, energy and space exploration industry, 45 00:03:46,160 --> 00:03:49,120 Speaker 3: not as a man behind a desk, caching dodgy checks 46 00:03:49,240 --> 00:03:52,720 Speaker 3: or stealing from the coffers, but as an actual hands 47 00:03:52,760 --> 00:03:59,840 Speaker 3: on scientist. Monokov's demise was, however, possibly one of the 48 00:04:00,360 --> 00:04:05,000 Speaker 3: many sad Oligarch deaths, at least that's what we've come 49 00:04:05,040 --> 00:04:10,160 Speaker 3: to believe. Remember, the sad Oligarch umbrella covers the many 50 00:04:10,240 --> 00:04:14,160 Speaker 3: branches of what could well be a large scale Kremlin 51 00:04:14,240 --> 00:04:20,640 Speaker 3: policy of assassinating its own people, possibly a real conspiracy 52 00:04:21,000 --> 00:04:28,040 Speaker 3: with a Russian elite clears its house with blood. But still, 53 00:04:28,279 --> 00:04:31,080 Speaker 3: why would someone in the darkest depths of the Russian 54 00:04:31,120 --> 00:04:36,400 Speaker 3: deep state want to kill a rocket scientist. Well, considering 55 00:04:36,640 --> 00:04:40,679 Speaker 3: the expertise that such a role requires. There could actually 56 00:04:40,720 --> 00:04:44,800 Speaker 3: be many different reasons a man like Melnikov might end 57 00:04:44,920 --> 00:04:51,239 Speaker 3: up in murky waters, advanced weapons systems, propulsion technology. Who 58 00:04:51,279 --> 00:04:55,480 Speaker 3: knows what a rocket scientist ends up working on, Especially 59 00:04:55,560 --> 00:05:01,520 Speaker 3: when the government is involved, The possibilities are endless. We 60 00:05:01,600 --> 00:05:05,320 Speaker 3: think it might be connected to something much more obvious, though. 61 00:05:06,000 --> 00:05:10,960 Speaker 3: Lunar twenty five Russia's first lunar probe mission in forty 62 00:05:11,080 --> 00:05:18,120 Speaker 3: seven years. This moonlanding expedition failed spectacularly on August twentieth, 63 00:05:18,279 --> 00:05:23,799 Speaker 3: twenty twenty three. A week later, Melnikov was dead. 64 00:05:25,000 --> 00:05:31,640 Speaker 4: Three Russia's first moon mission in forty seven years has failed. 65 00:05:36,720 --> 00:05:39,760 Speaker 4: The Lunar twenty five spacecraft spun out of control and 66 00:05:39,880 --> 00:05:43,080 Speaker 4: crashed into the Moon after a problem preparing for pre 67 00:05:43,200 --> 00:05:50,560 Speaker 4: landing orbit. Russia's state space corporation ross Cosmos, said it 68 00:05:50,600 --> 00:05:53,800 Speaker 4: had lost contact with the craft. In a statement, it 69 00:05:53,880 --> 00:05:57,960 Speaker 4: said quote the apparatus moved into an unpredictable orbit and 70 00:05:58,040 --> 00:06:00,839 Speaker 4: ceased to exist as a result of a collision with 71 00:06:00,880 --> 00:06:04,159 Speaker 4: the surface of the Moon. It added that a special 72 00:06:04,240 --> 00:06:07,880 Speaker 4: into departmental commission had been formed to investigate the reasons 73 00:06:07,960 --> 00:06:11,560 Speaker 4: behind the loss of Luna twenty five. Best the reasons 74 00:06:11,640 --> 00:06:12,960 Speaker 4: behind the loss. 75 00:06:12,680 --> 00:06:13,799 Speaker 5: Of the five. 76 00:06:14,760 --> 00:06:17,560 Speaker 3: When Surgery and me looked into this, our first thought 77 00:06:17,760 --> 00:06:25,360 Speaker 3: was that the two are possibly connected, Like, how serious 78 00:06:26,040 --> 00:06:30,799 Speaker 3: was this crashing into the moon? This lunar twenty five, 79 00:06:30,960 --> 00:06:34,480 Speaker 3: this big space mission, the first one in almost half 80 00:06:34,480 --> 00:06:38,640 Speaker 3: a century for Russia and then it crashes? Can you 81 00:06:38,760 --> 00:06:41,040 Speaker 3: kind of explain what actually happened? 82 00:06:41,279 --> 00:06:45,400 Speaker 5: Yeah, So when I was looking into this, actually monetarily, 83 00:06:45,720 --> 00:06:47,760 Speaker 5: like it's a a big of a loss, it was 84 00:06:47,800 --> 00:06:50,760 Speaker 5: around one hundred and thirty million USD right for the 85 00:06:50,800 --> 00:06:53,080 Speaker 5: whole project. I thought it would be a couple maybe 86 00:06:53,080 --> 00:06:55,880 Speaker 5: even billion. I think the conversion is like twelve billion 87 00:06:55,960 --> 00:06:58,600 Speaker 5: rubles by no means small, but it's also kind of 88 00:06:58,720 --> 00:07:03,040 Speaker 5: on the smaller side of like the fans aerospace projects, right, 89 00:07:03,279 --> 00:07:07,440 Speaker 5: the bigger thing is one hundred percent the kind of symbolism. 90 00:07:07,640 --> 00:07:11,200 Speaker 5: So initially this project was started in the like nineteen nineties, 91 00:07:11,240 --> 00:07:13,800 Speaker 5: they were already talking about it, like a design was 92 00:07:14,080 --> 00:07:16,320 Speaker 5: chosen or at least they were kind of like looking 93 00:07:16,320 --> 00:07:19,520 Speaker 5: at designs in like the nineteen nineties. By nineteen ninety 94 00:07:19,560 --> 00:07:22,520 Speaker 5: eight they selected like I think, like the design that 95 00:07:22,600 --> 00:07:24,920 Speaker 5: was going to go forward with, but it kind of 96 00:07:24,920 --> 00:07:26,840 Speaker 5: died down in two thousands. I think they were just 97 00:07:26,840 --> 00:07:28,760 Speaker 5: focusing on other stuff at that time, and it was 98 00:07:28,840 --> 00:07:31,720 Speaker 5: kind of like in like limbo. It looks like it 99 00:07:31,760 --> 00:07:35,400 Speaker 5: picked back up in twenty tens. Initially the project was 100 00:07:35,440 --> 00:07:40,280 Speaker 5: actually called like Luna Globe, so like Globe Moon whatever. 101 00:07:40,680 --> 00:07:42,280 Speaker 5: Basically it was a different name, right, It was kind 102 00:07:42,280 --> 00:07:45,320 Speaker 5: of not associated with the Soviet program until it was 103 00:07:45,400 --> 00:07:49,080 Speaker 5: changed to Luna twenty five, kind of having that continuity 104 00:07:49,120 --> 00:07:52,200 Speaker 5: with the Soviet Union, even though the last the Luna 105 00:07:52,240 --> 00:07:55,480 Speaker 5: twenty four, like the one before that, was actually launched 106 00:07:55,520 --> 00:08:00,560 Speaker 5: in nineteen seventy six, right, so like the reason they're 107 00:08:00,600 --> 00:08:02,480 Speaker 5: naming it twenty five is to have that connection to 108 00:08:02,480 --> 00:08:05,160 Speaker 5: the Soviet Union. In Russia, they're very much you know, 109 00:08:05,400 --> 00:08:09,560 Speaker 5: the whole nostalgia thing is like very capitalized on. Soviet 110 00:08:09,640 --> 00:08:11,880 Speaker 5: Union was the good old times. It's when Russia was 111 00:08:11,920 --> 00:08:14,160 Speaker 5: like on par with the United States, you know, the 112 00:08:14,200 --> 00:08:15,440 Speaker 5: only kind of. 113 00:08:15,480 --> 00:08:19,280 Speaker 3: Rival to the big bad US, right, like a spiritual 114 00:08:19,360 --> 00:08:20,520 Speaker 3: successor project. 115 00:08:20,760 --> 00:08:23,560 Speaker 5: Yeah, exactly. The space race was like a really big thing. 116 00:08:23,600 --> 00:08:26,440 Speaker 5: It still is. It's still a very much like point 117 00:08:26,480 --> 00:08:28,960 Speaker 5: of pride. They'll love to point out that, oh, yeah, 118 00:08:29,040 --> 00:08:31,440 Speaker 5: the US land and on the moon, but we did this, 119 00:08:31,520 --> 00:08:34,040 Speaker 5: We send the first man, we sent the first like woman, 120 00:08:34,160 --> 00:08:36,559 Speaker 5: we did this, we did that. It's still looked back 121 00:08:36,600 --> 00:08:39,000 Speaker 5: on as like kind of like a great achievement, and 122 00:08:39,040 --> 00:08:41,720 Speaker 5: they see it as like very you know, like Russia 123 00:08:41,720 --> 00:08:43,679 Speaker 5: as a successor of the Soviet Union, So they kind 124 00:08:43,720 --> 00:08:46,840 Speaker 5: of play on that. That's the whole reason it's Luna 125 00:08:46,880 --> 00:08:48,599 Speaker 5: twenty five, Like it was renamed, you know, like it 126 00:08:48,640 --> 00:08:50,920 Speaker 5: was initially a different thing, and they intentionally renamed it 127 00:08:50,920 --> 00:08:54,840 Speaker 5: to Luna twenty five to have that connection. There's like 128 00:08:54,880 --> 00:08:57,200 Speaker 5: a national pride, right Like, yeah, like the one hundred 129 00:08:57,200 --> 00:08:59,719 Speaker 5: and thirty million is a lot, but I think more 130 00:08:59,800 --> 00:09:02,959 Speaker 5: so it's more of like showing that Russia is still 131 00:09:03,440 --> 00:09:06,440 Speaker 5: a big boy. They can send things into space, right'. 132 00:09:06,880 --> 00:09:08,720 Speaker 5: That's kind of like a mark of a great nation 133 00:09:09,000 --> 00:09:09,680 Speaker 5: as they see it. 134 00:09:10,240 --> 00:09:13,000 Speaker 4: The mission has raised hopes in Moscow that Russia was 135 00:09:13,040 --> 00:09:16,520 Speaker 4: returning to the big power moon race, but this failure 136 00:09:16,559 --> 00:09:19,680 Speaker 4: has underscored the decline of Russia's space power since the 137 00:09:19,720 --> 00:09:21,679 Speaker 4: glory days of Cold War competition. 138 00:09:33,720 --> 00:09:37,280 Speaker 3: A Sergeimy was saying, without the full context, the theory 139 00:09:37,320 --> 00:09:40,280 Speaker 3: that Melnikov was killed because of a failed moon landing 140 00:09:40,920 --> 00:09:44,440 Speaker 3: might sound fetched, but if we look at the history 141 00:09:44,480 --> 00:09:47,000 Speaker 3: of Russia and what the space race means to the 142 00:09:47,040 --> 00:09:52,680 Speaker 3: country's hegemony. Things look a lot less conspiratorial. Let's go 143 00:09:52,840 --> 00:09:57,640 Speaker 3: back to the beginning, the days of the Soviet Union, 144 00:09:58,400 --> 00:10:06,800 Speaker 3: Red Army, boots on the ground, communist rule. Okay, now 145 00:10:06,920 --> 00:10:14,760 Speaker 3: it's time for a quick adbreak. All right, enough for that. 146 00:10:15,760 --> 00:10:24,440 Speaker 3: Now back to the shop mother Russia in the nineteen 147 00:10:24,559 --> 00:10:29,960 Speaker 3: forties World War Two. Squalid goolags and a ruthless dictator. 148 00:10:30,840 --> 00:10:32,760 Speaker 3: If you don't get snitched on by your neighbor and 149 00:10:32,800 --> 00:10:35,560 Speaker 3: sent to the dungeons, you might stab to death for 150 00:10:35,640 --> 00:10:42,760 Speaker 3: thought crimes. Welcome to the USSA socialist utopia, it is not. 151 00:10:46,000 --> 00:10:48,600 Speaker 3: The war against Nazi Germany was drawing to an end. 152 00:10:49,400 --> 00:10:52,760 Speaker 3: Soviet troops had taken Berlin, and Hitler blew his brains 153 00:10:52,760 --> 00:10:56,199 Speaker 3: out of his head on April thirtieth, nineteen forty five. 154 00:10:57,360 --> 00:11:00,920 Speaker 3: The Soviets copied the Americans, and they capped Nazi rocket 155 00:11:00,920 --> 00:11:04,360 Speaker 3: engineers and set them to work for the state. This 156 00:11:04,640 --> 00:11:08,680 Speaker 3: supercharged the ussa's long range missile programs and launched the 157 00:11:08,679 --> 00:11:14,280 Speaker 3: next phase their plans to go into space. In nineteen 158 00:11:14,360 --> 00:11:18,600 Speaker 3: fifty seven, the Soviet Union launched the first ever artificial 159 00:11:18,640 --> 00:11:24,480 Speaker 3: satellite into orbit Sputnik one. It was an incredible feat 160 00:11:24,480 --> 00:11:27,840 Speaker 3: of engineering that had the Yanks shaken in their boots. 161 00:11:29,880 --> 00:11:34,720 Speaker 3: A month after Spotnik one came Spotnik two. This satellite 162 00:11:34,760 --> 00:11:37,439 Speaker 3: went into space the same as the first, but they 163 00:11:37,440 --> 00:11:39,240 Speaker 3: put a dog in it to test how the first 164 00:11:39,360 --> 00:11:43,480 Speaker 3: living creature in orbit might fare. This was the famous 165 00:11:43,679 --> 00:11:48,240 Speaker 3: Lika the dog. Laikas sadly died a horrible death just 166 00:11:48,360 --> 00:11:54,240 Speaker 3: hours after launch, a malfunctioning thermal control mentally overheated. Shocking, 167 00:11:54,320 --> 00:11:57,400 Speaker 3: I know, but fans of the USSA don't know how 168 00:11:57,440 --> 00:12:03,440 Speaker 3: to treat dogs. But the sixties, the space race was 169 00:12:03,440 --> 00:12:06,720 Speaker 3: in full swing. The Cold War was heating up, and 170 00:12:06,760 --> 00:12:10,360 Speaker 3: the Americans were desperate to be the first superpower to 171 00:12:10,440 --> 00:12:22,280 Speaker 3: dominate space travel that were lacking on. On April twelfth, 172 00:12:22,360 --> 00:12:26,319 Speaker 3: nineteen sixty one, Russia sent the first human into orbit, 173 00:12:27,160 --> 00:12:32,080 Speaker 3: Yuri Gagarin. This was a victory for the Soviets. The 174 00:12:32,120 --> 00:12:35,920 Speaker 3: Americans were left sour faced, tinkering with their rockets and 175 00:12:35,960 --> 00:12:41,360 Speaker 3: twiddling their thumbs. Now, a retrospective, watered down telling of 176 00:12:41,480 --> 00:12:46,199 Speaker 3: history might sometimes say that everything was just healthy competition. 177 00:12:47,200 --> 00:12:53,640 Speaker 3: It absolutely was not. The space race between the USSR 178 00:12:53,679 --> 00:12:57,280 Speaker 3: and the United States of America became an emblem of 179 00:12:57,320 --> 00:13:03,160 Speaker 3: the global power struggle between both. By the mid sixties, 180 00:13:03,320 --> 00:13:08,200 Speaker 3: the Russians were still collecting stripes, launching the first human spacewalk, 181 00:13:08,400 --> 00:13:12,240 Speaker 3: first shuttle soft landing, and the first multi person mission 182 00:13:12,320 --> 00:13:19,600 Speaker 3: to the stars. Why the only way for the US 183 00:13:19,640 --> 00:13:23,280 Speaker 3: to recover from these Soviet space achievements was to put 184 00:13:23,280 --> 00:13:27,200 Speaker 3: a man on the Moon first, And sure enough, on 185 00:13:27,320 --> 00:13:33,320 Speaker 3: July twentieth, nineteen sixty nine, they did just that. At 186 00:13:43,679 --> 00:13:47,439 Speaker 3: US astronaut Neil Armstrong stepped onto the dusty earth of 187 00:13:47,480 --> 00:13:52,080 Speaker 3: the Moon's surface and planted a big, fat American flag 188 00:13:52,240 --> 00:13:57,040 Speaker 3: into the ground. At this moment, the USSR had officially 189 00:13:57,080 --> 00:14:03,679 Speaker 3: lost the space race. After all of that, the capitalists 190 00:14:03,800 --> 00:14:07,240 Speaker 3: beat them to it. It was a big embarrassment for 191 00:14:07,320 --> 00:14:13,400 Speaker 3: then Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev. At this time, a sixteen 192 00:14:13,480 --> 00:14:16,199 Speaker 3: year old of Vladimir Putin would have watched his country 193 00:14:16,280 --> 00:14:19,040 Speaker 3: lose on the TV. He'd have read about it in 194 00:14:19,080 --> 00:14:25,120 Speaker 3: the papers, heard about it in the street. First forward 195 00:14:25,200 --> 00:14:31,240 Speaker 3: to the collapse of the Soviet Union nineteen ninety one. 196 00:14:33,840 --> 00:14:38,120 Speaker 3: By this time Putin was almost forty. He was working 197 00:14:38,360 --> 00:14:43,200 Speaker 3: in some capacity in the Saint Petersburg political administration. Having 198 00:14:43,240 --> 00:14:46,920 Speaker 3: recently got back from his KGB posting in East Germany 199 00:14:47,640 --> 00:14:52,080 Speaker 3: with no funding, the Russian space program splinters. You will 200 00:14:52,080 --> 00:14:57,360 Speaker 3: have remembered all of this very well. This goes towards 201 00:14:57,400 --> 00:15:01,520 Speaker 3: explaining why Lunar twenty five was such a big deal. 202 00:15:02,400 --> 00:15:05,040 Speaker 3: Putin has spent his life trying to build his idea 203 00:15:05,320 --> 00:15:08,880 Speaker 3: of a great Russian empire. The old law of the 204 00:15:09,000 --> 00:15:13,120 Speaker 3: cosmonaut space race is very much part of that. He 205 00:15:13,200 --> 00:15:17,880 Speaker 3: needed Lunar twenty five to be spectacular, something new for 206 00:15:17,960 --> 00:15:20,960 Speaker 3: the history books for Russian space exploration. 207 00:15:22,560 --> 00:15:24,760 Speaker 5: And this mission was also supposed to be like a 208 00:15:24,760 --> 00:15:27,200 Speaker 5: first It was supposed to be a first lander on 209 00:15:27,240 --> 00:15:31,120 Speaker 5: the south pole of the Moon, not too into the whole, 210 00:15:31,160 --> 00:15:34,200 Speaker 5: like a space exploration. But for my understanding, that was 211 00:15:34,240 --> 00:15:36,440 Speaker 5: supposed to be a kind of a difficult feat. At 212 00:15:36,520 --> 00:15:38,560 Speaker 5: least nobody tried it. Nobody's been able to do it. 213 00:15:38,840 --> 00:15:41,680 Speaker 5: So that was kind of the idea. And this project, 214 00:15:42,000 --> 00:15:43,560 Speaker 5: even though like you know, it started back come in 215 00:15:43,560 --> 00:15:46,600 Speaker 5: twenty tens, it just kept being delayed. From my understanding, 216 00:15:46,640 --> 00:15:49,080 Speaker 5: it was supposed to launch like at one point in 217 00:15:49,120 --> 00:15:52,600 Speaker 5: twenty nineteen, it got delayed again at that point, like 218 00:15:52,960 --> 00:15:55,120 Speaker 5: so they were working with other partners, like for example, 219 00:15:55,120 --> 00:15:58,360 Speaker 5: Sweden pulled out. Sweden was supposed to give them like 220 00:15:58,440 --> 00:16:03,120 Speaker 5: some attack, I think, like something to look through samples 221 00:16:03,120 --> 00:16:05,520 Speaker 5: on the moon. They basically said, like you're taking too long. 222 00:16:06,240 --> 00:16:10,680 Speaker 5: They went with someone else. At this point, the project 223 00:16:10,760 --> 00:16:12,960 Speaker 5: is just kind of like keeps being delayed, keeps being 224 00:16:12,960 --> 00:16:16,240 Speaker 5: delayed to the point where the war in Ukraine starts 225 00:16:16,320 --> 00:16:20,320 Speaker 5: and essentially everybody kind of shuns Russia, right, everybody pulls out. 226 00:16:21,120 --> 00:16:23,320 Speaker 5: Tensions are high with the West, and nobody wants to 227 00:16:23,360 --> 00:16:27,080 Speaker 5: work with Russia. Which you know, they have their so 228 00:16:27,240 --> 00:16:29,720 Speaker 5: use rockets and stuff, but a lot of the technology, 229 00:16:29,760 --> 00:16:32,720 Speaker 5: a lot of the things that actually go into this tech, 230 00:16:33,520 --> 00:16:35,080 Speaker 5: they're having a harder time sourcing. 231 00:16:35,440 --> 00:16:38,400 Speaker 3: That's something that I thought was really interesting. If you're 232 00:16:38,440 --> 00:16:42,520 Speaker 3: trying to work out, well, oh, why would Melnikov be 233 00:16:42,600 --> 00:16:46,520 Speaker 3: maybe maybe why would it be maybe purposely poisoned? It's 234 00:16:46,680 --> 00:16:49,360 Speaker 3: just a scientist is to do with this in the 235 00:16:49,360 --> 00:16:52,880 Speaker 3: greater context of the Soviet Union, like you said, and 236 00:16:52,920 --> 00:16:55,560 Speaker 3: the fact that due to the war, all the people 237 00:16:55,600 --> 00:17:01,080 Speaker 3: that will working kind of as international a political thing 238 00:17:01,120 --> 00:17:03,640 Speaker 3: on this just went no, fuck that we're not working 239 00:17:03,640 --> 00:17:06,879 Speaker 3: with Russia because of what they're doing I almost feel 240 00:17:06,920 --> 00:17:11,719 Speaker 3: like surely puting and his mentality or anybody's mentality in 241 00:17:11,760 --> 00:17:14,680 Speaker 3: that situation would be like, Okay, fuck it, we can 242 00:17:14,720 --> 00:17:17,920 Speaker 3: do it ourselves, will show them and the embarrassment of 243 00:17:18,000 --> 00:17:21,639 Speaker 3: it going boom crashing into the surface. I think in 244 00:17:21,680 --> 00:17:23,960 Speaker 3: that context it would have been a pretty big deal 245 00:17:24,119 --> 00:17:25,080 Speaker 3: for the Kremlin. 246 00:17:25,600 --> 00:17:30,879 Speaker 5: You're spot on. That's exactit. Rhetoric they had, like Piskov was, 247 00:17:31,080 --> 00:17:33,000 Speaker 5: you know, talking about it. He's like, oh, we don't 248 00:17:33,000 --> 00:17:35,040 Speaker 5: need the West, we can do this ourselves. Kind of 249 00:17:35,080 --> 00:17:37,720 Speaker 5: again going back to the Soviet Union, like we did 250 00:17:37,720 --> 00:17:39,760 Speaker 5: it back then, we could do it now, you know, 251 00:17:39,840 --> 00:17:42,800 Speaker 5: kind of ignoring that Soviet Union was a collection of 252 00:17:42,840 --> 00:17:45,280 Speaker 5: a bunch of nations. You know, they don't have all 253 00:17:45,280 --> 00:17:47,639 Speaker 5: these resources that we're in other parts of the Soviet Union. 254 00:17:47,880 --> 00:17:50,280 Speaker 5: But anyway, yeah, it was very much. It was very 255 00:17:50,320 --> 00:17:53,280 Speaker 5: much in that light of this Russia is amazing. It 256 00:17:53,280 --> 00:17:56,359 Speaker 5: can do everything by itself. It doesn't need anybody, It 257 00:17:56,400 --> 00:17:59,720 Speaker 5: doesn't really like depend on anyone. Right. It was a 258 00:17:59,720 --> 00:18:02,080 Speaker 5: lot of this calling back to the Soviet Union and 259 00:18:02,160 --> 00:18:04,560 Speaker 5: kind of I guess you could even say, like a 260 00:18:04,600 --> 00:18:07,800 Speaker 5: supremacist thing, like we're better than everyone. We don't need anyone, 261 00:18:08,480 --> 00:18:11,119 Speaker 5: We can do this ourselves. So when this you know, 262 00:18:11,160 --> 00:18:13,159 Speaker 5: big project again it was supposed to be at first 263 00:18:13,280 --> 00:18:16,000 Speaker 5: it would have been another kind of achievement for Russian exploration, 264 00:18:17,280 --> 00:18:20,880 Speaker 5: all of a sudden it's it goes wrong, it crashes, 265 00:18:21,040 --> 00:18:24,320 Speaker 5: and not only does it crash, four days later, an 266 00:18:24,320 --> 00:18:28,000 Speaker 5: Indian mission does the exact same thing, successfully making it 267 00:18:28,040 --> 00:18:31,520 Speaker 5: the fourth country after China, Us and Russia to make 268 00:18:31,520 --> 00:18:34,280 Speaker 5: a soft landing on the Moon, which is like, you know, 269 00:18:34,320 --> 00:18:37,159 Speaker 5: a big technological achievement. But not only do they do 270 00:18:37,200 --> 00:18:39,480 Speaker 5: it on the Moon, it's on the South Pole where 271 00:18:39,520 --> 00:18:41,760 Speaker 5: Russia was hoping to do it, so they get that 272 00:18:41,800 --> 00:18:44,800 Speaker 5: first instead, you know, So not only did they did 273 00:18:44,840 --> 00:18:48,000 Speaker 5: Russia fail, but now some like a nation that they 274 00:18:48,040 --> 00:18:52,159 Speaker 5: see as inferior has also not only just achieved it, 275 00:18:52,200 --> 00:18:54,159 Speaker 5: but did it first, and they kind of took that 276 00:18:54,240 --> 00:18:54,880 Speaker 5: first from them. 277 00:18:55,240 --> 00:18:57,880 Speaker 3: That is a definitely relevant point. I mean, as horrible 278 00:18:57,880 --> 00:19:01,560 Speaker 3: as that is, let's be there is no way on 279 00:19:01,720 --> 00:19:06,240 Speaker 3: earth that the Kremlin has any respect for the Indian 280 00:19:07,119 --> 00:19:10,080 Speaker 3: space mission. I dare say most countries don't. And they 281 00:19:10,119 --> 00:19:12,880 Speaker 3: actually did it successfully and did a good job of it. 282 00:19:13,560 --> 00:19:16,680 Speaker 3: That must have been a kind of salt in the 283 00:19:16,720 --> 00:19:18,040 Speaker 3: wound moment right. 284 00:19:18,320 --> 00:19:22,720 Speaker 5: One hundred percent. They see people from China, from India, 285 00:19:22,800 --> 00:19:25,880 Speaker 5: like anywhere you know that isn't European as like kind 286 00:19:25,880 --> 00:19:29,520 Speaker 5: of lesser. How deep it is entrenched into the country, 287 00:19:29,560 --> 00:19:32,119 Speaker 5: and government is like, you can debate that, but it's 288 00:19:32,200 --> 00:19:36,320 Speaker 5: definitely there. It's very much a supremacist right, like we're better, 289 00:19:36,520 --> 00:19:37,880 Speaker 5: We're the better race nation. 290 00:19:38,040 --> 00:19:38,320 Speaker 4: Whatever. 291 00:19:39,320 --> 00:19:42,720 Speaker 3: So Russia's new space mission to the Moon's south pole 292 00:19:43,320 --> 00:19:47,160 Speaker 3: smashed into the surface and broke to bits. Then India 293 00:19:47,240 --> 00:19:51,440 Speaker 3: beat them to it just four days later. What disaster 294 00:19:51,520 --> 00:19:58,280 Speaker 3: for Putin. Someone had to be held responsible. Okay, now 295 00:19:58,320 --> 00:20:05,520 Speaker 3: it's time for a quick out break, all right, enough 296 00:20:05,560 --> 00:20:14,120 Speaker 3: for that, now back to the shore. Looking into this 297 00:20:14,240 --> 00:20:20,119 Speaker 3: case specifically has been difficult. Reporting on Vatally Melnikov's death 298 00:20:20,240 --> 00:20:24,199 Speaker 3: from the Russian press was very surface level. Things were 299 00:20:24,280 --> 00:20:27,960 Speaker 3: kept mostly quiet. The family aren't saying much, the hospital 300 00:20:28,000 --> 00:20:31,679 Speaker 3: isn't speaking. It's all a bit weird, especially when you 301 00:20:31,720 --> 00:20:37,439 Speaker 3: consider the alleged cause of death, toxic mushroom poisoning. The 302 00:20:37,840 --> 00:20:41,879 Speaker 3: death by fungi element of this case is especially unusual. 303 00:20:42,359 --> 00:20:46,360 Speaker 3: According to his family, Melnikov had been picking wild mushrooms 304 00:20:46,600 --> 00:20:50,520 Speaker 3: his whole life. In the days before he was hospitalized, 305 00:20:50,600 --> 00:20:53,200 Speaker 3: he'd been making a broth from what he'd foraged near 306 00:20:53,240 --> 00:20:59,160 Speaker 3: his home in Moscow. Nothing unusual there. In Russia, picking 307 00:20:59,240 --> 00:21:02,560 Speaker 3: mushrooms is simply part of the culture, especially for the 308 00:21:02,600 --> 00:21:07,680 Speaker 3: older generation. Remember, Melnikov was seventy seven years old when 309 00:21:07,720 --> 00:21:12,560 Speaker 3: he died. Seems unlikely to me that he'd accidentally pick 310 00:21:12,600 --> 00:21:16,800 Speaker 3: a poison mushroom, boil it and eat it as an 311 00:21:16,960 --> 00:21:23,000 Speaker 3: experienced micro file a mushroom forager. To be fair, though, 312 00:21:23,040 --> 00:21:27,000 Speaker 3: I know absolutely nothing about mushroom picking and the whole 313 00:21:27,000 --> 00:21:30,639 Speaker 3: tradition and culture surrounding it, so I spoke to someone 314 00:21:30,760 --> 00:21:36,440 Speaker 3: who does, Tommy Fitzpatrick. Tommy is an expert on mushrooms. 315 00:21:36,680 --> 00:21:39,119 Speaker 3: He's been involved in this his whole life and he 316 00:21:39,200 --> 00:21:42,119 Speaker 3: knows which ones to pick and which ones not. 317 00:21:42,240 --> 00:21:46,879 Speaker 2: To my mother's Polish and part of the Polish culture 318 00:21:46,880 --> 00:21:49,960 Speaker 2: in quite a lot of Eastern Europe and Europe is to. 319 00:21:50,119 --> 00:21:51,840 Speaker 1: Go foraging for mushrooms. 320 00:21:51,880 --> 00:21:54,480 Speaker 2: And from as young as I can remember, I was 321 00:21:54,480 --> 00:21:56,679 Speaker 2: giving a little pen knife and will go out in 322 00:21:56,720 --> 00:21:59,120 Speaker 2: the forest every time we visited our family in Poland 323 00:21:59,200 --> 00:22:04,359 Speaker 2: and mushrooms, so I learnt from an early age, and 324 00:22:05,000 --> 00:22:07,000 Speaker 2: all of the mushrooms I was taught by my family. 325 00:22:07,040 --> 00:22:10,040 Speaker 2: I now know them plus much much more. I've actually 326 00:22:10,200 --> 00:22:13,040 Speaker 2: gone advanced and got obsessed with it, and no more 327 00:22:13,119 --> 00:22:16,040 Speaker 2: than everyone who taught me about mushrooms. So now they 328 00:22:16,040 --> 00:22:19,560 Speaker 2: come to me for some mushroom micology knowledge. 329 00:22:19,920 --> 00:22:22,000 Speaker 3: So if you were walking through the forest, are you 330 00:22:22,080 --> 00:22:25,280 Speaker 3: pretty confident you'd be able to identify pretty much any 331 00:22:25,359 --> 00:22:27,280 Speaker 3: mushroom you'd see just by sight. 332 00:22:27,560 --> 00:22:29,680 Speaker 2: I wouldn't know all of them, but I know all 333 00:22:29,680 --> 00:22:32,520 Speaker 2: the dangerous ones and all the best edibles. That's how 334 00:22:32,560 --> 00:22:34,679 Speaker 2: you want to tackle foraging mushrooms. You need to know 335 00:22:34,720 --> 00:22:37,400 Speaker 2: the most dangerous ones so you can avoid them, and 336 00:22:37,440 --> 00:22:39,679 Speaker 2: then focus on the best edible ones. The ones in 337 00:22:39,720 --> 00:22:42,640 Speaker 2: between are the ones not worth bothering with. But obviously, 338 00:22:43,200 --> 00:22:45,800 Speaker 2: the more times you see some mushrooms that aren't edible 339 00:22:45,880 --> 00:22:48,760 Speaker 2: or aren't even poisonous, you familiarize yourself with them, and 340 00:22:48,800 --> 00:22:50,240 Speaker 2: then you might look them up in the book and 341 00:22:50,280 --> 00:22:52,800 Speaker 2: find out what they are. But focus on the deadly 342 00:22:52,840 --> 00:22:55,280 Speaker 2: ones to avoid them, and then the best edibles. 343 00:22:55,680 --> 00:22:59,240 Speaker 3: That's what I'm really interested, obviously, because this Worstian scientist 344 00:23:00,280 --> 00:23:04,639 Speaker 3: in his seventies ended up dying eating a poison mushroom. 345 00:23:05,160 --> 00:23:07,880 Speaker 3: Now you said yourself. This is something that you grew 346 00:23:07,960 --> 00:23:10,320 Speaker 3: up doing. It's part of the culture in Poland. I know, 347 00:23:10,359 --> 00:23:12,960 Speaker 3: it's definitely part of the culture in Russia as well. 348 00:23:13,600 --> 00:23:18,160 Speaker 3: How likely is it do you think that someone would 349 00:23:18,160 --> 00:23:21,119 Speaker 3: be picking mushrooms as part of their culture, especially in 350 00:23:21,160 --> 00:23:23,120 Speaker 3: old age. They've been doing it their whole life. They 351 00:23:23,200 --> 00:23:26,200 Speaker 3: suddenly pick a poison one by accident. Is that something 352 00:23:26,240 --> 00:23:28,080 Speaker 3: that happens often or is it rare? 353 00:23:28,119 --> 00:23:30,359 Speaker 1: Would you say it will happen. 354 00:23:30,640 --> 00:23:32,720 Speaker 2: People do die every year and it would be from 355 00:23:32,760 --> 00:23:38,080 Speaker 2: accidentally picking the incorrect mushroom. You have field mushrooms which 356 00:23:38,520 --> 00:23:41,320 Speaker 2: are all edible, apart from one which looks exactly the 357 00:23:41,359 --> 00:23:44,440 Speaker 2: same as the edible ones, but it's called the yellow stainer. 358 00:23:44,600 --> 00:23:46,480 Speaker 2: So the way you will test it is you'll cut 359 00:23:46,520 --> 00:23:49,439 Speaker 2: this white mushroom in half or any way you like, 360 00:23:49,600 --> 00:23:52,680 Speaker 2: and it will stain yellow, and if it doesn't, then 361 00:23:52,800 --> 00:23:55,400 Speaker 2: you know you've got an edible mushroom. Also, it's got 362 00:23:55,520 --> 00:23:59,120 Speaker 2: a bad smell compared to the other edible button mushrooms 363 00:23:59,160 --> 00:24:01,679 Speaker 2: or field mushrooms. But yeah, it's quite interesting you talk 364 00:24:01,720 --> 00:24:05,040 Speaker 2: about Russia because a lot of the mushrooms which you 365 00:24:05,040 --> 00:24:07,879 Speaker 2: wouldn't bother with, or they have toxins in so you 366 00:24:07,880 --> 00:24:11,240 Speaker 2: wouldn't pick them. For example, the Russians sometimes will pick 367 00:24:11,280 --> 00:24:14,199 Speaker 2: them and they'll boil the mushroom to take out the 368 00:24:14,280 --> 00:24:17,280 Speaker 2: toxins and then make it palatable and edible. 369 00:24:17,359 --> 00:24:20,440 Speaker 1: But for me, you know that's going a bit far. 370 00:24:20,720 --> 00:24:23,119 Speaker 2: You just again, I just focus on the best edibles, 371 00:24:23,119 --> 00:24:26,639 Speaker 2: not making things edible. And then in terms of the 372 00:24:27,000 --> 00:24:29,560 Speaker 2: most deadly mushroom in the world is the deaf cap 373 00:24:29,640 --> 00:24:33,160 Speaker 2: mushroom and I believe that's probably what the Russian guy 374 00:24:33,200 --> 00:24:35,640 Speaker 2: you're talking about would have been targetable. 375 00:24:36,040 --> 00:24:40,119 Speaker 3: How many deadly poison mushrooms are there? Is there loads 376 00:24:40,160 --> 00:24:42,120 Speaker 3: out there? You have to be careful or is it now? 377 00:24:42,160 --> 00:24:44,160 Speaker 3: And then like what are the levels to it because 378 00:24:44,200 --> 00:24:45,360 Speaker 3: I don't know anything about it. 379 00:24:45,640 --> 00:24:49,879 Speaker 2: Well, in the UK there's probably five deadly mushrooms and 380 00:24:49,920 --> 00:24:52,840 Speaker 2: then lots that will make you sick. In science, everything 381 00:24:52,880 --> 00:24:55,960 Speaker 2: has a Latin name, So for example, the deaf cat 382 00:24:56,040 --> 00:24:59,439 Speaker 2: mushroom is called Amanita filloides, and Amanita is the name 383 00:24:59,480 --> 00:25:02,400 Speaker 2: of the family. And there's many different amanitas out there, 384 00:25:02,400 --> 00:25:05,400 Speaker 2: but Amnita feloides is the most deadly one out there. 385 00:25:05,600 --> 00:25:08,680 Speaker 2: And what they do is now they try to give 386 00:25:08,760 --> 00:25:11,800 Speaker 2: mushrooms common names, So instead of using the Latin name 387 00:25:11,880 --> 00:25:14,520 Speaker 2: amnit to feloides, it's called the death cap, which is 388 00:25:15,040 --> 00:25:20,440 Speaker 2: much more rememberable, and it helps you associate the mushroom 389 00:25:20,480 --> 00:25:25,240 Speaker 2: of a common name. And yeah, it helps also spread 390 00:25:25,240 --> 00:25:27,200 Speaker 2: the word that is dangerous. So you've got the deaf 391 00:25:27,200 --> 00:25:29,399 Speaker 2: cap mushroom, which is a good name for it, a 392 00:25:29,400 --> 00:25:30,240 Speaker 2: great name for it. 393 00:25:30,600 --> 00:25:31,920 Speaker 1: Then you've got a. 394 00:25:31,640 --> 00:25:35,399 Speaker 2: Mushroom called the funeral bell, one which called angel wings 395 00:25:35,520 --> 00:25:37,800 Speaker 2: gives you wings to fly up to heaven hopefully not. 396 00:25:38,760 --> 00:25:40,919 Speaker 3: So the death cap, that's the one that you reckon, 397 00:25:41,080 --> 00:25:43,800 Speaker 3: is what the most deadly and the most prevalent. 398 00:25:44,119 --> 00:25:47,960 Speaker 2: Yeah, definitely the most deadly. It shuts down your liver 399 00:25:48,040 --> 00:25:52,680 Speaker 2: and kidneys. It's also really quite a common mushroom and prevalent. 400 00:25:52,800 --> 00:25:55,960 Speaker 2: And another interesting thing is that it originated in Europe. 401 00:25:56,160 --> 00:25:58,840 Speaker 2: But the spores of mushrooms, which is the way they 402 00:25:58,840 --> 00:26:04,560 Speaker 2: release flowers, their seeds, it's called spores, and they released 403 00:26:04,760 --> 00:26:07,760 Speaker 2: thousands even millions of them from from the underside of 404 00:26:07,800 --> 00:26:11,399 Speaker 2: their cap, and they float across everywhere and they have 405 00:26:11,520 --> 00:26:13,959 Speaker 2: now self seeded in other continents. So I think it's 406 00:26:14,000 --> 00:26:17,919 Speaker 2: in Asia now Africa, where there was originally a European. 407 00:26:17,400 --> 00:26:19,200 Speaker 1: Species and vice versa. 408 00:26:19,280 --> 00:26:22,680 Speaker 2: Now we're getting other mushrooms which were from other continents 409 00:26:22,680 --> 00:26:25,520 Speaker 2: in our country, in our continent, so it's quite interesting. 410 00:26:25,560 --> 00:26:28,560 Speaker 1: So there will be new dangers if you're not used. 411 00:26:28,800 --> 00:26:31,200 Speaker 2: You've never seen a death cap, for example, in Asia 412 00:26:31,240 --> 00:26:33,680 Speaker 2: before because they haven't existed in the last five years 413 00:26:33,720 --> 00:26:36,520 Speaker 2: they have, so there would be more mistakes of people 414 00:26:36,560 --> 00:26:39,600 Speaker 2: potentially picking that incorrectly because they've not seen it before 415 00:26:39,840 --> 00:26:40,520 Speaker 2: or stuff like that. 416 00:26:40,600 --> 00:26:42,639 Speaker 3: Yeah, right, and they have them in Russia as well. 417 00:26:43,080 --> 00:26:44,359 Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, very much. 418 00:26:44,440 --> 00:26:46,800 Speaker 2: Yeah, Russia's, like you mentioned, it's one of the top 419 00:26:46,880 --> 00:26:49,080 Speaker 2: mushroom foraging countries in the world. 420 00:26:49,280 --> 00:26:51,960 Speaker 1: And it's a huge almost like national sport. 421 00:26:52,119 --> 00:26:56,080 Speaker 2: And yeah, the deaf mushroom is very prevalent in Russia. 422 00:26:58,400 --> 00:27:02,960 Speaker 3: So maybe Melnikov really did accidentally pick the wrong mushroom, 423 00:27:03,480 --> 00:27:07,159 Speaker 3: consume it, and later die from the poison. Perhaps the 424 00:27:07,240 --> 00:27:12,399 Speaker 3: timing is all just a coincidence. Maybe I'm still not 425 00:27:12,520 --> 00:27:19,600 Speaker 3: convinced of. Melnikov was a head scientist of a department 426 00:27:20,000 --> 00:27:23,520 Speaker 3: that was responsible for the development of the thrusters on 427 00:27:23,640 --> 00:27:29,280 Speaker 3: Luna twenty five. It's exactly the thrusters that failed, causing 428 00:27:29,440 --> 00:27:35,240 Speaker 3: Lunar twenty five to crash. If you were a petty, 429 00:27:35,520 --> 00:27:39,639 Speaker 3: vindictive but powerful dictator. He wanted to blame someone for 430 00:27:39,680 --> 00:27:43,600 Speaker 3: the failed mission. Melnikov would be pretty high up on 431 00:27:43,640 --> 00:27:47,800 Speaker 3: your list. Something else that bothers me about this is 432 00:27:48,040 --> 00:27:52,960 Speaker 3: the amount of time that Melnikov was in hospital. He 433 00:27:53,040 --> 00:27:56,960 Speaker 3: was quietly admitted on August eleventh, but his death was 434 00:27:57,000 --> 00:28:03,000 Speaker 3: made public three weeks later on August first. So either 435 00:28:03,200 --> 00:28:07,840 Speaker 3: it took Melnikov, a seventy seven year old man, three 436 00:28:07,880 --> 00:28:12,000 Speaker 3: weeks to die from poison mushrooms that usually kill in days, 437 00:28:13,000 --> 00:28:17,480 Speaker 3: or they kept his death hidden for around two weeks. 438 00:28:18,400 --> 00:28:22,280 Speaker 3: Both of these possibilities are quite unusual when you consider 439 00:28:22,280 --> 00:28:26,200 Speaker 3: the wider context of the space mission in Melnikov's role 440 00:28:26,240 --> 00:28:34,080 Speaker 3: in it. There is also another theory. Perhaps Melnikov wasn't 441 00:28:34,119 --> 00:28:38,800 Speaker 3: poisoned by mushrooms at all. Maybe he was poisoned by 442 00:28:38,840 --> 00:28:43,400 Speaker 3: something else and they're using the mushrooms as a cover up. 443 00:28:44,160 --> 00:28:46,320 Speaker 3: It would not be the first time that the Russian 444 00:28:46,320 --> 00:28:53,440 Speaker 3: government is involved in poisoning. Melnikov was part of a 445 00:28:53,480 --> 00:28:58,400 Speaker 3: scientific team that continued to work with international colleagues after 446 00:28:58,480 --> 00:29:02,760 Speaker 3: the Ukraine invasion. As the West turned its back on Russia, 447 00:29:03,240 --> 00:29:08,880 Speaker 3: Russians were expected to turn their back on the West, and. 448 00:29:08,840 --> 00:29:11,440 Speaker 1: Then the. 449 00:29:14,360 --> 00:29:19,400 Speaker 3: Story lawyer, but not Melnikov. He just shrugged it off 450 00:29:19,440 --> 00:29:23,280 Speaker 3: and kept working to advance a collective understanding of science. 451 00:29:23,840 --> 00:29:27,080 Speaker 3: That's what he was all about. After all, it wasn't 452 00:29:27,160 --> 00:29:30,360 Speaker 3: him who invaded Ukraine. Melnikov had been working with the 453 00:29:30,480 --> 00:29:35,960 Speaker 3: US and Japan specifically for years. The Kremlin's propaganda clearly 454 00:29:36,040 --> 00:29:41,680 Speaker 3: hadn't worked on him. There's no doubt Pun's people would 455 00:29:41,720 --> 00:29:45,920 Speaker 3: have had an iron him because of this. Is it 456 00:29:46,000 --> 00:29:50,040 Speaker 3: possible the Lunar twenty five crash was the final straw, 457 00:29:50,480 --> 00:29:53,320 Speaker 3: and the FSB got given the go ahead to get 458 00:29:53,400 --> 00:30:02,600 Speaker 3: rid of him. One last thing that's worth. In twenty eighteen, 459 00:30:02,880 --> 00:30:07,920 Speaker 3: Melnikov was working for the Central Research Institute of Machine Building, 460 00:30:08,400 --> 00:30:13,200 Speaker 3: Scientific Russian Rocket and Space Travel Center. It's one of 461 00:30:13,200 --> 00:30:19,520 Speaker 3: the main analytical centers of the State Space Corporation ross Cosmos. 462 00:30:20,560 --> 00:30:26,200 Speaker 3: On July twentieth, twenty eighteen, the FSB conducted extensive searches 463 00:30:26,480 --> 00:30:33,320 Speaker 3: at ross Cosmos, sort of Kremlin henchman raid on the 464 00:30:33,360 --> 00:30:38,600 Speaker 3: space center. This is due to a accusation the researchers 465 00:30:38,600 --> 00:30:42,840 Speaker 3: there had been quote sharing secret information with Western colleagues 466 00:30:43,120 --> 00:30:48,840 Speaker 3: regarding the construction of hypersonic technology, basically spying in the 467 00:30:48,880 --> 00:30:54,080 Speaker 3: eyes of the Kremlin. The Central Research Institute could argue though, 468 00:30:54,440 --> 00:30:57,840 Speaker 3: that this was just part of their international cooperation with 469 00:30:58,040 --> 00:31:03,640 Speaker 3: the West. Either way, an employee was arrested on spying 470 00:31:03,760 --> 00:31:09,040 Speaker 3: charges for quote handing over closed information about the technologies 471 00:31:09,120 --> 00:31:13,480 Speaker 3: used in the development of hypersonic aircraft to a NATO country. 472 00:31:14,520 --> 00:31:20,000 Speaker 3: This alleged spy was seventy three years old. Is it 473 00:31:20,080 --> 00:31:26,000 Speaker 3: possible that Melnikov too was secretly accused of spying? He 474 00:31:26,120 --> 00:31:29,040 Speaker 3: worked at the same place, was a similar age, and 475 00:31:29,120 --> 00:31:36,800 Speaker 3: continued to cooperate on scientific research with the West for 476 00:31:36,880 --> 00:31:39,600 Speaker 3: his sake. I hope he wasn't accused of this, and 477 00:31:39,680 --> 00:31:43,360 Speaker 3: I hope the poisoning was just an accident. By all accounts, 478 00:31:43,520 --> 00:31:47,320 Speaker 3: Vitali Melnikov was not a bad man. He just wanted 479 00:31:47,360 --> 00:31:50,600 Speaker 3: to explore space with the rest of the world's scientists. 480 00:31:51,160 --> 00:31:55,640 Speaker 3: He was a big fan of advancement through cooperation. Since 481 00:31:55,680 --> 00:31:59,720 Speaker 3: twenty seventeen, he was even a professor at the People's 482 00:32:00,160 --> 00:32:05,400 Speaker 3: Ship University of Russia, which focuses on providing education to 483 00:32:05,520 --> 00:32:11,400 Speaker 3: foreign students in the country. It's one of Russia's top universities. Notably, 484 00:32:11,640 --> 00:32:17,120 Speaker 3: the anti Kremlin dissident politician Alexi Navalni studied there. Graduating 485 00:32:17,240 --> 00:32:22,280 Speaker 3: with a law degree in nineteen ninety eight. He died 486 00:32:22,400 --> 00:32:29,200 Speaker 3: in twenty twenty four in a Siberian penal colony. Melnikov 487 00:32:29,480 --> 00:32:33,400 Speaker 3: was honored to teach at the university, although if you 488 00:32:33,440 --> 00:32:37,160 Speaker 3: were looking at their records alone you wouldn't know it. 489 00:32:38,320 --> 00:32:44,280 Speaker 3: For some reason, the university has completely removed vitally Melnikov's 490 00:32:44,360 --> 00:32:50,480 Speaker 3: name from their alumni. He's been erased. They did the 491 00:32:50,560 --> 00:33:23,480 Speaker 3: same with Navalni. Make of that what you will. You've 492 00:33:23,480 --> 00:33:27,000 Speaker 3: been listening to sad Oliga season two, produced by H 493 00:33:27,080 --> 00:33:33,680 Speaker 3: eleven Studios for Cool Zone Media. Writing, editing, producing, concept 494 00:33:33,800 --> 00:33:39,880 Speaker 3: and recording by myself, Jake Hanrahan, Research and reporting by 495 00:33:40,080 --> 00:33:47,200 Speaker 3: Sergei Slipchenko, Me and Victim Mihail. Executive producing by Sophie Lichtman. 496 00:33:47,920 --> 00:33:54,560 Speaker 3: Music by Sam Black, artwork by George Jutefu. Sound mixed 497 00:33:54,600 --> 00:34:00,480 Speaker 3: by Splicing Block. See my other projects at Hanrahan dot 498 00:34:00,560 --> 00:34:03,800 Speaker 3: t V. Get me on social media at Jake under 499 00:34:03,840 --> 00:34:04,720 Speaker 3: School Hanrahan. 500 00:34:05,040 --> 00:34:12,960 Speaker 1: That's h I n R A h I n H 501 00:34:20,640 --> 00:34:20,680 Speaker 1: m 502 00:34:22,600 --> 00:34:26,680 Speaker 5: Hm