Soviet Union’s Agricultural Biowarfare Programme

Anthony Rimmington is a former Senior Research Fellow at Birmingham University’s Centre for Russian, European and Eurasian Studies. He has published widely on the civil life sciences sector in the post-Soviet states and on the Soviet Union’s offensive biological warfare programme, including Stalin’s Secret Weapon: The Origins of Soviet Biological Warfare.

• Introduction.- 1. Origins: The International Race to Develop Anti-Crop and Anti-LivestockBiological Weapons.- 2. Genesis: Khrushchev and the Launch of the Soviet Union’s Large-Scale Agricultural Biowarfare Programme.- 3. The Expansion of the Ministry of Agriculture’s Toxic Archipelago.- 4. Heart of Darkness: The Role of the Pokrov Biologics Plant in Creating Reserve Mobilisation Capacity for Production of Viral Agents.- 5. Through a Glass Darkly: Analysis of the Soviet Union’s Military Agricultural R&D Programmes.- 6. From Military to Agro-Industrial Complex: The Legacy of the Agricultural BW Programme.

“The Soviet Union’s Agricultural Biowarfare Programme, constructs a compelling narrative of the Soviet agricultural biowarfare program known as Ekologiya. His access to firsthand knowledge of the program through interviews with former participants makes Rimmington’s book an important contribution to understanding Soviet military operations related to harming farm animals and food crops. … the richness and novelty of the information from his interview subjects will be a delight for advanced researchers interested in Soviet science and the history of technology.” (Miriam F. Lipton, Technology and Culture, Vol. 63 (2), April, 2022)