A hunch
A hunch about a dream...getting out there.
What flashed into my head was the google search "popov eugenics". Turns out that quite a few people with the surname "Popov" have written about or been involved with eugenics. One hit was about a report by a Popov on how the Nazis treated Gypsies differently than Jews. Yet another Popov that came up was a Soviet bioweapon designer who might've written about genetically-targeted weapons.
I don't have an answer, but here's a trove of clues to keep you busy ;-)