This was the first Soviet H-Bomb, 1949. Doing some research for a possible writing project, came across this.
Of interest is that by 1949, the bomb had already come a long way, but Beria insisted on modeling it precisely on the US “Fat Man,” based on Klaus Fuchs intelligence gained five years previous. There is an argument that copying the bomb, rather than innovating further, is one thing that kept the Soviets behind during the nuclear arms race.
Which worked out kind of ok in the long run, I suppose.
