PENZA. Jan 31 (Interfax-AVN) - A system to destroy so-called complex chemical munitions has been launched at the Leonidovka chemical weapons disposal facility in the Penza region.
"These munitions are special in that they contain not only a chemical agent, but also an explosive substance provided with an anti-disturbance device," Col. Gen. Valery Kapashin, the chief of the Federal Directorate for Safe Storage and Disposal of Chemical Weapons, who personally supervised the launch of the new system, told Interfax-AVN on Thursday.
The adjustment operations conducted in December 2012 and the first day of the system's operation in the nominal mode have proven high efficiency and safety of the complex chemical munitions disposal technology developed by Russian researchers, he said.
"It should be noted that all technologies applied in the disposal of chemical weapons in Russia are domestic. At the present time, warfare agents in the form of self-contained munitions (yperite, lewisite, and their mixtures) have been fully disposed of, and the disposal of aircraft-delivered and artillery munitions containing sarin, soman and VX is proceeding as planned. Over 28,000 tonnes of warfare agents have been safely disposed of now, which is over 70% of Russian chemical weapons stockpiles. Not a single person has been injured or otherwise harmed in the course of this complicated and dangerous process," he said.
The successful implementation of the technology for disposing of complex munitions marks the final stage of the federal program on the disposal of chemical weapons stockpiles in Russia, he said.
"What remains to be done yet is launching the adjusted lines for disposing of artillery munitions at the Kizner facility in Udmurtia, block No. 2 at the Shchuchye facility in the Kurgan region, and the blocks for the disposal of complex chemical munitions at the Maradykovsky facility in the Kirov region and at Shchuchye," he said.