[2][4] The Yeltsin government alarmed the international community by stating that it could not afford to keep the GosNIIOKhT facilities open or personnel employed, as that would mean starving scientists would have incentive to work for nefarious organizations.

In the opinion of one writer, "permitting the ISTC and the other grant programs to sponsor projects that work with Western commercial companies to retool some equipment and kick off the manufacturing of consumer products at these facilities.

An advantage to lifting the congressional ban on defense conversion is that the Western commercial partners would have a frequent presence on site—an arrangement likely to foil efforts to produce warfare agents covertly at these facilities.

The deployment of a toxic nerve agent of the Novichok group would therefore only be possible due to the failure of the Institute to carry out its responsibility to destroy the stockpiles of chemical weapons.On 21 March 2021, invoking its authorities under the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA) Section 231, the United States Department of State added GosNIIOKhT to its List of Specified Persons as persons that are part of, or operate for or on behalf of, the defense or intelligence sectors of the Government of the Russian Federation.

In addition, GosNIIOKhT was designated under the authority of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and Executive Order 13382, "Blocking Property of Weapons of Mass Destruction Proliferators and Their Supporters.