Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
on BW and coordinated work plans among the various government min-
istries and took decisions by consensus. The decisions had to be infor-
mally approved by the Military Industrial Commission. The council was
reorganized in 1975 partly because of decision-making problems, which
in turn were related to the fact that its members lacked the appropriate
background or knowledge required to oversee a BW program. 24 This en-
tity appears to have been the main mechanism by which scientific re-
search directions were considered and developed and the necessary re-
sources identified and directed toward BW-related activities.
In the 1970s the Military-Industrial Commission of the USSR Council
of Ministers Commission on the Problem of Providing for the Develop-
ment through Fundamental [Scientific] Research of New Types of Biolog-
ical Weapons 25 also played a major role in linking the scientific commu-
nity with BW work. Soviet Academician Ovchinnikov played a key role
in these efforts. In the early 1970s, Ovchinnikov served as vice president
of the Soviet Academy of Sciences and as a consultant to the Military-In-
dustrial Commission. 26
The Soviet Union signed the BWC in 1972 following the Convention's
opening for signature and ratified the treaty in 1975. That year the Soviet
Communist Party Central Committee issued a resolution on the creation
of advanced military technology, which in turn required measures to be
taken to strengthen basic and applied scientific research. 27 The following
year a decision was taken by the Politburo to expand the country's BW
program on the basis of a proposal made by the 15th Directorate of the
Ministry of Defense (MOD). 28
Structure
Broadly speaking, the Soviet BW program of the 1970s and 1980s con-
sisted of a military component, a political component, and a civilian com-
ponent. The military component was largely controlled by the 15th Di-
rectorate, established in 1973 and first headed by Colonel General Efim
Ivanovich Smirnov. 29 From 1985 to 1989 the directorate was headed by
V. A. Lebedinsky, and from 1989 until its abolition in 1992 by Lieutenant
General Valentin Evstigneev. The 15th Directorate was abolished on 3
January 1992 by an MOD decree (no. 3), and the Directorate of Biologi-
cal Defense was established within a Directorate of Radiological, Chemi-
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