The Soviet Biological Weapons Program - Deadly Cultures: Biological Weapons Since 1945 - page 134

tary planners on the role of BW in military doctrine. 11 The US has de-
voted more resources than any other country since the end of World
War II to determine the nature and status of the Soviet BW program.
Partially declassified intelligence assessments are available for much of
this period.
Origins and Development of the Program
Origins
Soviet interest in BW dates to at least 1928, when Yakov Moiseevich
Fishman, the head of the Military Chemical Directorate of the Worker-
Peasant Red Army, prepared a report on BW. 12 By the time World War II
began, the Soviet Union appears to have developed and tested a variety of
BW systems, including aerosol generators and frangible air bombs. 13 Out-
side assessments generally appear to conclude, however, that any Soviet
BW program was limited in scope at the end of World War II and that any
production of BW occurred on a small scale.
After the war, the Soviet BW establishment underwent further devel-
opment and expansion. For example, secret laboratories were reportedly
established and attached to most universities and technical institutes. 14
In 1957 the possible use of new types of weapons began to be “actively”
discussed by the Soviet Communist Party Central Committee. 15 The so-
called Problem No. 5 dates to at least the 1950s and, according to some
sources, to the end of World War II. The term was initially used to refer to
developing defenses against BW. Its use was apparently ended in 1992,
when the Russian CBW defense establishment was reorganized.
In the 1960s Soviet scientists expressed increased concern about the
growing backwardness of Soviet science, including fundamental research
in experimental and theoretical biology, by writing to the Council of Min-
isters and the Soviet Communist Party Central Committee. They also
cited the country's inability to produce or otherwise obtain modern labo-
ratory equipment, so that they were not always able to replicate experi-
ments conducted abroad. 16
In order to give biology sufficient political support to overcome these
problems, some academicians and Soviet officials argued for increasing
support for the biological sciences in terms of their military significance,