 Vsevolod Merkulov said that these experiments were approved by NKVD chief Lavrenty Beria.After his arrest, Beria himself testified on August 28, 1953, that "I gave orders to Mairanovsky to conduct experiments on people sentenced to the highest measure of punishment, but it was not my idea".In addition to human experimentation, Mairanovsky personally executed people with poisons, under the supervision of Sudoplatov.