MOSCOW, February 6 (AVN) - US Congress may resume provision of financial support for the Russian chemical weapons scrapping programme in 2002, Russian Ammunition Agency Director-General Zinovy Pak said on Tuesday.
Under the previous agreement, the United States allocated USD285m for that purpose and was planning to provide USD880m more for construction of a chemical weapons scrapping plant in the town of Shchuchye in the south-western Siberian Kurgan region, Pak told the Military News Agency commenting on his visit to the USA.
Speaking about the plants that scrap chemical weapons, Pak stressed that their top priority is to ensure protection of the people and environment. This is also the main criterion applied to selection of technologies and organisation of works, he said.
According to Pak, visiting Director-General of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons Jose Bustani fully approved of that approach during their meeting earlier on Tuesday.
Bustani is planning to discuss environment protection at a meeting with Deputy Prime Minister Ilya Klebanov, which is scheduled for 15.00 Moscow time (1200 GMT), the Agency learned. On Wednesday, he is expected to meet chairman of the State Duma lower house of parliament Gennady Seleznyov, President Vladimir Putin's envoy to the Volga federal district Sergei Kiriyenko, and heads of several parliamentary committees.