In the Saratov region, the buildings of the branch of the State Research Institute of Organic Chemistry and Technology (GosNIIOKHT) are being demolished, where, according to the British media, they allegedly manufactured the chemical weapons "Novy". The head of the closed administrative-territorial formation Shihany Andrei Tatarinov told RIA Novosti that the institute is destroying itself because of the completion of the program for disposal of chemical weapons. According to Tatarinov, the corps of GosNIIOKHT is demolished, and then the construction debris is melted in high-temperature furnaces and stored at a special test site. "This is all done to purify the territory of the Institute for the subsequent development of some new production there," he added.. The Institute now employs 200 residents of Sheehan. Buildings in which work has been performed with toxic substances are being demolished, since these premises can not be used.

The media started talking about the Shihans after the former employee of the GRU, Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia, were poisoned in the English city of Salisbury on March 4. London stated that the chemical "Novice", allegedly suspected of being poisoned by Scrapali, was produced on the secret facility of Shihany. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on April 27 that the alliance does not doubt Britain's conclusions on the case of the Violins. Incident in Salisbury provoked an international diplomatic scandal. More than 20 countries sent more than 100 Russian diplomats.