Which country deliberately did not follow the 1972 Biological Weapons Convention even after signing?

Which country deliberately did not follow the 1972 Biological Weapons Convention even after signing?

• A. USA
• B. USSR
• C. UK
• D. China

Answer: (B)

This question tests understanding of how states complied with the Biological Weapons Convention and why verification was so challenging. The treaty prohibits developing, producing, stockpiling, or transferring biological agents for weapons and requires destruction of any such weapons. While several powers publicly committed to halt offensive programs after signing, the Soviet Union pursued a substantial bioweapons effort in secret, operating under the civilian-looking Biopreparat system and evading the treaty’s limited early verification attempts. The 1979 Sverdlovsk incident and later disclosures after the USSR’s dissolution provided strong evidence of a hidden, large-scale program that violated the spirit and letter of the agreement. Because of this sustained, undisclosed activity after signing, the Soviet Union is identified as the country that did not follow the convention. The other major powers did not have the same documented pattern of continued, overtly unreported offensive development during the treaty’s early period.

This question tests understanding of how states complied with the Biological Weapons Convention and why verification was so challenging. The treaty prohibits developing, producing, stockpiling, or transferring biological agents for weapons and requires destruction of any such weapons. While several powers publicly committed to halt offensive programs after signing, the Soviet Union pursued a substantial bioweapons effort in secret, operating under the civilian-looking Biopreparat system and evading the treaty’s limited early verification attempts. The 1979 Sverdlovsk incident and later disclosures after the USSR’s dissolution provided strong evidence of a hidden, large-scale program that violated the spirit and letter of the agreement. Because of this sustained, undisclosed activity after signing, the Soviet Union is identified as the country that did not follow the convention. The other major powers did not have the same documented pattern of continued, overtly unreported offensive development during the treaty’s early period.