Soviet Union, nerve agent stockpile

Thus the end of the war found the Soviet Union with a stockpile of classical chemical agents and filled munitions that was probably substantial with adequate defences, and with some captured German stocks of nerve gas, together with the capability to manufacture nerve agents. 

Wroelaw) in the disputed territory and a faetory for the produetion of nerve agents. It was estimated that when Dyhemfurth was captured it contained stoekpiles of 12,000 tons of tabun, 600 tons of sarin, and an unknown amount of soman. Presumably, the faetory was dismantled, and along with their stockpiles, transported to the Soviet Union (Koelle, 1981). It has been doeumented that the Soviets were ready to conduet a ehemieal attaek and their researeh and development of CWs was very intensified. 

As described above, massive stockpiles of chemical weapons (approximately 70000 tonnes declared by 2001), mainly vesicants and nerve agents, were accumulated in the cold war years, mostly by the USA and the Soviet Union. After years of negotiation, a near comprehensive chemical weapons treaty. 

The 1987 and 1988 Statements on the Defence Estimates did not quantify the Soviet CW stockpile. The 1988 Defence White Paper simply stated The Soviet Union has produced and stockpiled a wide variety of chemical agents and munitions and has a massive tonnage of nerve agent alone. . but the Defence Secretary, George Younger, confirmed to the House of Commons that the Ministry of Defence still held by its estimate. He did, however, acknowledge that there was a degree of uncertainty. ... 

After WWn a number of countries continued to maintain active chemical weapons programmes. In particular the United States of America and the Soviet Union produced and maintained large stockpiles of modern chemical weapons containing the highly toxic nerve agents. Other countries, notably Iraq, have also developed and stockpiled chemical weapons. 

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