Аннотация:The article is devoted to some aspects of the preparation of the USSR for bacteriological war in the second half of the 1930s, as well as the activities of intelligence agencies and the Military-technical Bureau to obtain information in the fi eld of military bacteriology, taking into account the realities of the state of international relations. Special attention is paid to the development of offensive bacteriological weapons abroad, as well as the evaluation of the materials obtained by experts in the USSR. The paper uses previously unpublished archival sources covering the successes of Soviet intelligence, as well as shedding light on the state of development of the sphere in question in some foreign countries. The author describes the mechanism of interdepartmental cooperation implemented in order to strengthen the defence potential of the USSR in the military-bacteriological sphere and the introduction of the information obtained in the industry.