Certain phrases have a resonance in Russian that they carry nowhere else. One of these is "state secret".


To anyone who lived here during the Soviet era, the words "state secret" are ineluctably tied to other words like "gulag", "traitor" and "enemy of the people". The accusation that a Soviet citizen had disclosed -- or even knew -- "state secrets" was used as a form of repression for 70 years. It kept refuseniks from emigrating, prevented Sakharov from accepting the Nobel Peace Prize, sent other scientists to prison and, in the Stalin era, was used as a weapon for carrying out the great terror.


It is thus with great concern that we learned this weekend that two Russian scientists had been arrested by the latest version of the KGB and taken to the infamous Lefortovo Prison for interrogation because they co-signed an article called "Poisonous Politics" about the clandestine testing of a powerful new chemical weapon.


The two, Lev Fyodorov and Vil Mirzayanov, published their article a month ago in Moscow News. Fyodorov's flat was searched when he was seized Thursday under a warrant signed by Valentin Stepankov, the Russian public prosecutor. Fyodorov was held all day and released; Mirzayanov's fate is unclear. The pretext for their arrest is Article 75 of the Russian Criminal Code. This code was revised, ostensibly to liberalize it, in December 1991; it makes disclosure of state secrets punishable by two to five years in prison.


The incident raises a number of troubling questions. There is the issue of Russia's commitment to halt chemical weapons production, as stated by President Boris Yeltsin in January. If Russia is sticking to this agreement, why was it testing a binary chemical weapon described as "the most powerful in the world? "


Then there is the issue of secrecy and press freedom. If Russia is violating, or even is thought to have violated, an international agreement, is this to be considered a state Secret? What are the limits of journalistic investigation? Where does freedom of speech begin and end?


Finally there is the question of the role of the Ministry of Security, the successor to the KGB. As the power struggles at the top of the Russian political hierarchy sap the authority of the Yeltsin administration, this "Ministry" is taking on new life. Unlike in other East bloc countries, where the secret police were imperatively called to account for their abuses under Communism, the KGB underwent no such process here. Does the Moscow News incident herald a period of restored vigor for the most ignominious organ of the Communist period? If so, this is an ominous sign indeed.