Novichok

Novichok is a family of nerve agents developed by the Soviet Union and Russia between 1971 and 1993 at the GosNIIOKhT state chemical research institute. The agents were designed to achieve four objectives, including simplicity of handling and transporting, and were designed as part of a Soviet program codenamed Foliant. Novichok agents are considered to be among the deadliest ever made, with some variants being five to eight times more potent than VX and others up to ten times more potent than soman. The agents have never been used on the battlefield, but were involved in several high-profile poisonings, including the poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal in 2018 and opposition figure Alexei Navalny in 2020.learn more on wikipedia