"The Russian Federation will destroy only chemical weapons from the former arsenals of the Russian Army, said Lieutenant General Valery Kapashin, chief of the Federal Department for the Safe Storage and Liquidation of Chemical Weapons.
Russia signed the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) January 13, 1993, and ratified it November 5, 1997. The country declared an arsenal of 40,000 metric tons of chemical weapons in 1997, and has so far destroyed 8,000 tons.
The CWC convention stipulates four phases of weapons and materials destruction in Russia. One percent of the weapons were destroyed in the first phase and 20% in the second phase. Forty-five percent will be scrapped in the third phase, and the remaining 34% in the fourth.
"Every country must destroy its chemical weapons on its own territory," the general said.
Russia has allocated $7.18 billion from the federal budget for the implementation of the program and built at least three chemical weapons destruction plants - at Gorny, in the central Saratov Region, at Kambarka, in the Republic of Udmurtia, and at the Maradykovsky complex in the Kirov Region.
Four facilities are still under construction at various locations throughout the country.
Kapashin reaffirmed that Russia would fulfill its obligations under the CWC to destroy all of its chemical weapon stockpiles by 2012.
