MOSCOW, December 29 (AVN) - Due to insufficient financing the chemical weapons elimination plan for 2000 has been left uncompleted in Russia, Professor Viktor Petrunin, director general of the Organic Chemistry and Technology R&D Institute, told the Military News Agency on Friday.
Under the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production and Stockpiling of All Types of Chemical Weapons and on their Destruction, Russia had to begin elimination of its poisonous substances arsenal on December 5, 1999 and reduce them by 400 tonnes by May 2000. But elimination facilities turned out to be unprepared for the works, and the first stage of the plan failed. Russian authorities managed to start building only one chemical weapons liquidation facility in the Gorny village of the Saratov region.
In accordance with international treaties, Russia has to destroy all chemical weapons stocks by May 2007. The next stage envisages destruction of 20 percent of chemical weapons, i. e. 8,000 tons, by May 2002. It will apparently start with a serious delay and is likely to fail too as the poisonous substances elimination facility in the Kurgan region is not yet completed. Only some preparations have take place there.
The situation is further aggravated by US and Europe's unwillingness to provide financial assistance they promised to Russia in return for the Convention's ratification, Petrunin said. US Congress did not allocate money for chemical weapons destruction in Russia for the 2000-2001 fiscal year.