The
Soviet project to develop an atomic bomb (
Russian: Создание советской атомной бомбы) was a top secret
research and development program begun during
World War II, in the wake of the
Soviet Union's discovery of the American, British, and Canadian
nuclear project. This scientific research was directed by Soviet nuclear physicist
Igor Kurchatov, while the military logistics and intelligence efforts were undertaken and managed by
NKVD people's commissar Lavrentiy Beria. The Soviet Union benefited from highly successful
espionage efforts on the part of the
GRU of the
Soviet General Staff,
PGU NKGB SSSR/
MGB SSSR. During World War II, the program was started by
Joseph Stalin who received a letter from physicist
Georgy Flyorov urging him to start the research, as Flyorov had long suspected that many of the
Allied powers were already secretly working on a weapon after the discovery of
nuclear fission in 1939. However, because of the bloody and intensified war with
Nazi Germany, large scale efforts were prevented. The Soviets accelerated the program after the American
atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The Soviet atomic project was charged with gathering intelligence on the
German nuclear energy project as well as the American nuclear efforts. After the war, the Soviet Union expanded its research facilities, military reactors, and employed many scientists.