MOSCOW. May 30 (Interfax-AVN) - Russia has destroyed over half of the almost 40,000 tonnes of chemical weapons it had, Valery Kapashin, the head of the Federal Department for Safe Storage and Destruction of Chemical Weapons, told Interfax-AVN on Monday.
"Over 20,000 tonnes of category 1 chemical weapons were destroyed as of May 30, 2011, which is over 50% of the earlier announced amount (39,966 tonnes)," Kapashin said.
Kapashin said the fulfillment of the federal program "Chemical Weapons Destruction in the Russian Federation" showed that the use of the new capacities of five Russian chemical weapons destruction facilities and the rates at which chemical weapons are being destroyed have created favorable conditions for successful fulfillment of the Chemical Weapons Convention, he said.