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Prime universe
(Capcom's primary storyline)
Snapshot20090220002916

Wesker approaches the facility.

The Caucasus laboratory was a laboratory owned and operated by the Umbrella Corporation. It was one of Umbrella's last facilities to fall. Formerly a Soviet-era chemical plant, it continued to serve this guise to cover up its biological research.

History[]

Early history[]

The petrochemical plant itself dates back to the Stalinist-era as one part in the Soviet Union's vast exploitation of oil in the Caucasus. The plant itself was a façade for an bunker used as an underground research complex by the Soviet Academy of Sciences. This purpose of this facility was to conduct research on unidentified ores which had been recovered from the site of the Tunguska Event years prior. By the late 1980s, generations of research had taken place but with a lack of results the Gorbachev government cut funding to the project and the complex was abandoned.[1]

Umbrella acquisition (1998-2002)[]

In 1991, the Soviet Union collapsed. The chemical plant fell into the jurisdiction of the Russian Federation which over the next few years began privatising its petrochemical industry. The plant however was not of interest to Russia's oligarchs, and it lay dormant until it was acquired by Dr. Oswell E. Spencer, Lord Spencer around 1998 on behalf of Umbrella Russia, though its links to the company were kept hidden through the use of dummy companies. The underground facilities were greatly expanded to provide another site for Umbrella's illegal bio-weapons research projects.[2][3][4]

For the next five years the facility was managed by Sergei Vladimir, who recruited many workers from a nearby village. The villagers there belonged to the Church of the Great Bones, a new religious movement that had settled the mountainside in 1992 and believed in cultural isolationism. Through bribery of its priest, the followers welcomed the opportunities employment would bring. On multiple occasions workers were known to go missing, fostering fears by the villagers they were human sacrifices for an evil deity, and rumors that folkloric monsters such as Vodyanoy and Almas were roaming the mountains preying on anyone they found.[2]

With the loss of Sheena Island's Tyrant Plant and the Antarctic Transport Terminal in 1998, Umbrella's B.O.W. production capabilities were severely undermined and with the destruction of Raccoon City it was without American funding. With the exception of Project Talos, Vladimir abandoned Phase 3 bioweapons research in favour of lower-cost solutions, producing improved varieties of existing prototypes. The improved Hunter Delta model was produced alongside militarily-useless weapons such as Neptune, Chimera and Web Spinners, which were more favourable for crime syndicates and terrorist organisations.[3] The nearby village was used as a waystation for shipment to maintain the illusion the chemical plant had no connection to Umbrella; an outside team would then pick them up and take them to Western Europe to be loaded onto Umbrella-owned ships such as the Spencer Rain or Queen Zenobia.[5]

Outbreak (2003)[]

Main article: Caucasus outbreak

Despite Umbrella's attempts to maintain secrecy, elements within The Organization had been aware of their links to the facility since its opening, though it was not until 2002 its importance as a hub for the company's B.O.W. traffic became undeniable, particularly with the emerging rumours of monster sightings.[3] Dr. Albert Wesker, a former Umbrella executive, made his way to Russia in search of the facility and made contact with employees inside willing to betray Umbrella. In doing so, the mole triggered an outbreak of t-Virus in the facility and released many B.O.W.s, losing their life in the process.[6] The resulting spread led to infected wolves reaching the village, where they spread the virus amongst its population, soon wiping out all but a girl named Anna.[7] The Russian government had been aware of the increasing risks since 2002, and was forming a private security firm to handle the issue to avoid any official record of Russian foreknowledge of Umbrella's operations in the country; after the capture of a wolf, a biohazard was confirmed and the security force sent into action.[8]

In mid-February 2003, both parties arrived in the region, leading to a brief confrontation at the Russian village where Wesker recovered floor plans of the facility, while Chris Redfield and Jill Valentine recovered conclusive evidence of the chemical plant as an Umbrella base.[5] Both factions attacked the base on the morning of February 18th, by which point the outbreak there had reached a 96% casualty rate. Redfield and Valentine pressed on into the underground while their colleagues secured the chemical plant, and battled Project Talos. Wesker meanwhile tracked down Vladimir, and killed him in order to obtain Umbrella's research data; he then escaped the facility, avoiding detection from the security firm who failed to recover anything of value.[9][10]

Architecture[]

The facility was designed to incorporate its own subway system, though it is uncertain if they led anywhere beyond the complex itself.

Gallery[]

Further notes[]

To date, the Caucasus Laboratory is one of the few laboratory settings in the series to not feature a self-destruct mechanism, the others being the Umbrella Africa Laboratory and the Uroboros Laboratory.

Sources[]

  1. Makino, BIOHAZARD UMBRELLA CHRONICLES SIDE B (2008), "Wesker 14".
  2. 2.0 2.1 Makino, BIOHAZARD UMBRELLA CHRONICLES SIDE B (2008), "Umbrella’s End 2".
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 Wesker's Extra Report.
  4. Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles (2007), file: "Umbrella Russian Branch Notes".
  5. 5.0 5.1 BIOHAZARD UMBRELLA CHRONICLES: Prelude to the Fall 2.
  6. Makino, BIOHAZARD UMBRELLA CHRONICLES SIDE B (2008), "Wesker 12".
  7. BIOHAZARD UMBRELLA CHRONICLES: Prelude to the Fall 1.
  8. Makino, BIOHAZARD UMBRELLA CHRONICLES SIDE B (2008), "Umbrella's End 3".
  9. Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles (2007), scene: "Umbrella's End 3 ending".
  10. Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles (2007), scene: "Dark Legacy 2 scene 3".
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