Russia has destroyed more than 24,000 metric tons of chemical warfare agents, or 60.4 percent of its chemical weapons stockpile, Russia’s industry and trade ministry said.
“We have set a goal to destroy 100 percent of chemical weapons in Russia by 2015. At the moment, two facilities have already completed their chemical weapons disposal tasks,” Russian Deputy Industry and Trade Minister Georgy Kalamanov said.
Chairman of the State Commission on Chemical Demilitarization Mikhail Babich said Russia “makes huge effort to complete this process as soon as possible,” his press service said.
He also said that “all states outside the legal frame of the [Chemical Weapons] Convention should join it immediately, and all states parties should comply in full with all provisions of this treaty.”
So far, Russia destroyed almost all chemical weapons scheduled for disposal in 2011. Six chemical weapons disposal plants are operating on Russia’s territory.
The 188 states parties to the Convention initially planned to destroy all chemical weapons in the world by 2012. Russia and the United States, who have 40,000 and 27,000 metric tons of chemical weapons, respectively, said they were behind schedule and the deadline was postponed until December 31, 2015.
