MOSCOW. Nov 10 (Interfax-AVN) - A report released on Wednesday says that Russian facilities have disposed of about 737.5 tonnes of chemical agents.
This announcement was made by Viktor Kholstov, deputy head of the Federal Industry Agency, at a two-day forum in Moscow.
More than 330,000 chemical weapons of the third category were destroyed in 2001 as part of the president's chemical weapons disposal program. Another 10.6 tonnes of chemical weapons of the second category were disposed of from the end of 2001 to March 2002, Kholstov said.
Russia's chemical weapons stockpiles comprise some 4.5 million artillery shells and aircraft bombs, and include nerve gases and blister agents stored in large containers, he said.
"The first stage of the program under the Convention (for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons - Interfax) envisioned disposing of 400 tonnes of chemical weapons of the first category (combat agents) by April 29, 2003. This task was accomplished by a facility in the village of Gorny in the Saratov region," Kholstov said.