High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Novichok (Russian новичок: "Newcomer") is a series of nerve agents that were developed by the Soviet Union in the 1970s and 1980s and allegedly the most deadly nerve agents ever made, with some variants possibly five to eight times more potent than VX, though this has never been proven. They belong to "fourth generation chemical weapons" designed as a part of Soviet "Foliant" program. Initially designated K-84 and later renamed A-230. The Novichok family of analogs comprises more than a hundred structural variants. Of all the variants the most promising, from a military standpoint, was A-232 (Novichok-5).