Tomka gas test site  Tomka gas test site () was secret chemical weapons testing facility near place codenamed Volsk-18 (20 km off Volsk), now Shikhany, Saratov Oblast, Russia created within the framework of German-Soviet military cooperation to circumvent the demilitarization provisions of the post-World War I Treaty of Versailles. It was co-directed by (начальник воен­но-химического управления Красной Армии), and German chemists Alexander von Grundherr and Ludwig von Sicherer. It operated (according to an agreement undersigned by fictitious joint stock companies) during 1926-1933. Another chemical site was established by the settlement of Ukhtomsky, Moscow Region.