This book focuses on&nbsp;<i>Biopreparat</i>, the Soviet agency created in&nbsp;1974,&nbsp;which spearheaded the largest and most sophisticated biological warfare programme the world has ever seen. At its height,&nbsp;<i>Biopreparat</i>&nbsp;employed more than 30,000 personnel and incorporated an enormous network embracing military-focused research institutes, design centres, biowarfare pilot facilities and dual-use production plants. The secret network pursued major offensive R&amp;D programmes, which sought to use genetic engineering techniques to create microbial strains resistant to antibiotics and with wholly new and unexpected pathogenic properties. During the mid-1980s,&nbsp;<i>Biopreparat</i>&nbsp;increased in size and political importance and also emerged as a major civil biopharmaceutical player in the USSR. In the wake of the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, an acute struggle for control of&nbsp;<i>Biopreparat</i>'s most valuable assets took place and the network was eventually broken-up and control of its facilities transferred to a myriad of state agencies and private companies.