How did the then Soviet Union get nuclear technology in the first place?
Well, the Soviets had their own scientists, plus the German scientists they got during WWII as well. They were on track for developing their own nuclear weapons through their own weapons research during and immediately following WWII. However, when Lavrentii Beria took over their program in 1944, knowing about American research and development into this, their program shifted DRASTICALLY. Klaus Fuchs was their primary spy from within the Manhatten Project. He kept them informed on American progress and R&D. The Soviet push became more and more a program to DUPLICATE American R&D rather than to develop their own. This was ESPECIALLY important following the successful testing and deployment of the first nuclear weapons. In fact, their first atomic test (First Lightning, on August 29, 1949) was litterally an EXACT COPY of our Plutonium “Gadget/Fat Man” bomb, first detonated during the Trinity test on July 16, 1945 and dropped on Nagasaki on August 9, 1945. This was on Beria’s insistance,
