MOSCOW. Sept 19 (Interfax-AVN) - The draft budget for 2004 does not allocate enough money for meeting international commitments in the sphere of chemical disarmament, Nikolai Bezborodov, deputy chairman of the State Duma defense committee and member of the state commission for chemical weapons destruction, said on Friday.
"The draft federal budget for 2004 allocates RUB5.36bn (USD175.25m) for implementing the presidential program of chemical weapons destruction in the Russian Federation, which is equal to this year's allocations. This amounts to 46 percent of the RUB11.58bn (USD378.62m) that is supposed to be allocated for this issue under the program in 2004," Bezborodov told Interfax- Military News Agency.
As a result, the program will have been underfunded by a total of RUB19.39bn (USD634m) by 2005. This practically rules out serious financial aid for chemical weapons destruction in Russia from donor countries, because they link an increase in their aid to increases in annual allocations for the program from the Russian state budget.
"As a result, the U.S. will not resume the provision of USD200m for the construction of the chemical weapons destruction facility in the town of Schuchye in the Kurgan region. The U.S. is ready to resume the funding if Russia and donor countries allocate at least USD50m for Shchuchye," the lawmaker said.
There is a real threat of failing to build chemical weapons destruction facilities in Shchuchye and the town of Kambarka in the internal republic of Udmurtia and the first section of the facility in the town of Maradykovsky in the Kirov region by 2005, as envisaged by the program. Construction of the facility in the town of Gorny in the Saratov region is also unlikely to be completed on time, Bezborodov stressed.
As a result, Russia will fail to meet the international commitments to destroy 20 percent of its chemical weapons stocks before 2007 and subsequently fail to implement the convention on destroying the entire chemical weapons stocks before 2012.
"Than is why it is necessary to add at least RUB2.14bn (USD69.97m) to the allocations for chemical weapons destruction to bring them up to RUB7.5bn (USD245.22m)," the lawmaker noted.