MOSCOW, August 29 (RIA Novosti) - Some countries are still confused by the way the USSR managed to create the first atomic bomb in dire post-war conditions, according to Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin.
“Up until now our ‘frenemies’ cannot understand how, having, over 40 years, gone through two revolutions, a civil war, two world wars, and having lost a large part of the talented, hard-working population, with half of the cities and plants destroyed, [our] country managed in a short time to create an advanced, sophisticated weapon,” said a message from Rogozin read by Oleg Bochkaryov, the deputy chairman of the Russian Military-Industrial Commission, at a meeting at Rosatom state nuclear energy company.
According to Rogozin’s statement, it was a true feat on the part of those involved in the atomic bomb development in the Soviet Union, as they managed to outperform the United States in this area, which had gathered the brightest minds from all around the world for this task.
The deputy prime minister said Soviet leaders correctly assessed the situation at the time, demonstrating a strong will and gathering the necessary resources to create the first atomic bomb in the shortest time.
On August 29, 1949, a successful test of the first Soviet atomic bomb was carried out at the Semipalatinsk Nuclear Test Site. By doing so, the Soviet Union undermined the US monopoly on the nuclear weapon, becoming the second nuclear nation in the world.
