MOSCOW. Oct 16 (Interfax-AVN) - The countries that sponsor the Russian chemicals weapons destruction program have so far failed to meet their commitments concerning financial aid provision in full, Nikolai Bezborodov, deputy chairman of the State Duma defense committee and member of the state chemical disarmament commission, said on Thursday.
That is why the government has to right to make a dramatic cut in budget allocations for chemical disarmament, Bezborodov told Interfax-Military News Agency.
"Gratuitous aid of donor countries is the main argument that the government is using to justify a dramatic reduction in budget funding of the state chemical disarmament program. But in fact, the allocations declared by the member nations of the Chemical Weapons Prohibition Convention do not correspond to the money that is indeed transferred," the lawmaker said.
The member nations of the convention transferred a bit over RUB1bn (USD33.21m) instead of RUB2.1bn (USD69.73m) that was planned for 2002, he argued. A large share of the funds amounting up to 30 percent was spent on maintaining the staff of foreign companies' offices in Russia, he added.
"The situation is the same this year. Contracts for gratuitous aid amounting to RUB5.9bn (USD195.92m) that was declared by foreign governments have not been signed and no transfers have been made. Only the rest of allocations under last year's contracts amounting to RUB105m (USD3.49m) have been transferred," Bezborodov said.
An analysis of the material and financial aid provided gratuitously has shown that it usually boils down to supplies of equipment made by companies of the donor country. Supplies of equipment made on the Russian territory are a rare exception.
"Thus, foreign countries decline to allocate any funds for maintaining safety of chemical weapons storage and destruction, operations of facilities involved in the destruction process, medical treatment of personnel and examination of territories, information backing and technical support of facilities, i.e. everything that is financed by the Russian federal budget," Bezborodov concluded.
The list of countries that have announced their intention to provide aid to Russia in destroying its chemical weapons currently consists of Canada (USD5m), the European Union (about USD14m), Finland (about USD1m), Germany (over USD30m), Great Britain (over USD17m), Italy (approximately USD7m), the Netherlands (USD10m), Norway (about USD1m), Sweden (USD450,000), Switzerland (USD30m), the United States (USD888m). Poland joined the list in late 2002.