Message #241386

[Lisa Wolfe]

The Novichok (Russian for "newcomer") agents are a series of organophosphate compounds that were developed in the Soviet Union from the mid 1960s to the 1990s. The goal of this program was to develop and manufacture highly deadly chemical weapons that were unknown to the West. These new agents were designed to be undetectable by standard NATO chemical detection equipment and to defeat chemical protective gear.

In addition to the newly developed "third generation" weapons, binary versions of several Soviet agents were developed and are designated as "Novichok" agents.