Editing Soviet atomic bomb project (section)

== Organization and administration ==
===The German assistance===
{{Main|Russian Alsos}}
From 1941 to 1946, the Soviet Union's [[Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Soviet Union)|Ministry of Foreign Affairs]] handled the logistics of the atomic bomb project, with [[Foreign Minister of Russia|Foreign Minister]] [[Vyacheslav Molotov]] controlling the direction of the program.{{rp|33}}<ref name="Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Burns">{{cite book|last1=Burns|first1=Richard Dean|last2=Coyle III|first2=Philip E.|title=The Challenges of Nuclear Non-Proliferation|date=2015|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield Publishers|isbn=978-1442223769|page=237|edition=1|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KzELCAAAQBAJ&pg=PA33 |access-date=15 June 2017|language=en|chapter-format=googlebooks|chapter=Seeking to Prevent Nuclear Proliferation}}</ref> However, Molotov proved to be a weak administrator, and the program stagnated.<ref name="Pegasus Books, Baggott"/> In contrast to American [[US Army Corps of Engineers|military administration]] in their [[Manhattan Project|atomic bomb project]], the Russians' program was directed by political dignitaries such as [[Vyacheslav Molotov|Molotov]], [[Lavrentiy Beria]], [[Georgy Malenkov|Georgii Malenkov]], and [[Mikhail Pervukhin]]—there were no military members.<ref name="Pegasus Books, Baggott"/>{{rp|313}}

After the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the program's leadership changed, when Stalin appointed Lavrentiy Beria on 22 August 1945.<ref name="Pegasus Books, Baggott">{{cite book|last1=Baggott|first1=Jim|title=The First War of Physics: The Secret History of the Atom Bomb, 1939–1949|date=2011|publisher=Pegasus Books|isbn=978-1605987699|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qSJbBAAAQBAJ&pg=PT203 |access-date=16 June 2017|language=en}}</ref> Beria is noted for leadership that helped the program to its final implementation.<ref name="Pegasus Books, Baggott"/>

{{blockquote|Beria understood the necessary scope and dynamics of research. This man, who was the personification of evil to modern Russian history, also possessed the great energy and capacity to work. The scientists who met him could not fail to recognize his intelligence, his will power, and his purposefullness. They found him first-class administrator who could carry a job through to completion...|sign=[[Yulii Khariton]], ''The First War of Physics: The Secret History of the Atom Bomb, 1939–1949''<ref name="Pegasus Books, Baggott"/>}}

The new Committee, under Beria, retained [[Georgy Malenkov|Georgii Malenkov]] and added [[Nikolai Voznesensky]] and [[Boris Vannikov]], People's Commissar for Armament.<ref name="Pegasus Books, Baggott"/> Under the administration of Beria, the NKVD co-opted [[atomic spies]] of the [[Soviet Atomic Spy Ring]] into the American program, and infiltrated the [[German nuclear program]] whose nuclear scientists were later instrumental in attaining the feasibility of Soviet nuclear weapons.<ref name="Pegasus Books, Baggott"/> 

The German assistance and the roles of the German nuclear scientists in advancing the Soviet program is subjected to the controversy as Russians had played down their contributions or passed their research to Russian scientists.{{rp|163-166}}<ref>{{cite book |last1=Riehl |first1=Nikolaus |last2=Seitz |first2=Frederick |title=Stalin's Captive: Nikolaus Riehl and the Soviet Race for the Bomb |date=1996 |publisher=Chemical Heritage Foundation |isbn=978-0-8412-3310-2 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RycjxBr15NAC&q=controversial |access-date=23 December 2024 |language=en}}</ref>