Russian official cites progress in destroying chemical weapons

MOSCOW -- Moscow is making progress in destroying its chemical weapons after years of delays, a Russian disarmament official said Monday. He proposed a new international aid plan for liquidating Russia's entire Soviet-era arsenal -- the largest in the world.

Zinovy Pak, head of the Russian Munitions Agency, said 2.6 tons of mustard gas has been destroyed at the Gorny plant, a newly opened facility in the Volga River region of Saratov, about 450 miles southeast of Moscow.

He said eight inspectors from the Netherlands-based Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons conducted tests Dec. 20 at Gorny and found the weapons scrapping process was effective and environmentally safe. The Netherlands-based body oversees the treaty prohibiting the production and use of toxic agents.

Russia has been trying to convince other nations of the seriousness of its efforts to destroy its chemical weapons arsenal, which at nearly 44,000 tons is the world's largest.

The process, launched after Russia ratified the 1997 Chemical Weapons Convention, has been beset by numerous delays, blamed on a lack of funding.

Russian officials complain that many countries, including the United States, have not made good on promises of aid to help Russia destroy its stockpiles. The U.S. Congress suspended some aid to Russia for chemical weapons destruction, including construction of a plant in Shchuchye in the Ural Mountains, in part over concerns about Moscow's own financing of the undertaking.

"To promise and not give is not aid, it is an obstacle," Pak said.

Pak said he had proposed a new financing plan to the Group of Eight industrialized nations that would let individual countries fund construction of seven chemical weapons destruction facilities on the grounds of former weapons plants. There, chemical weapons would be "detoxified" and rendered harmless, he said.

The previous plan involved construction of three facilities, including the "super-plant" in Shchuchye, where chemical weapons were to be transported and destroyed.

Pak did not say whether he received a response from G-8 members. In June, the countries pledged $20 billion over 10 years to help destroy Russia's chemical weapons and secure Russia's nuclear and biological weapons, but did not give a timetable or specify how the money would be spent.

Russia, which had earlier pledged to destroy its chemical weapons stockpile by 2007, has requested a five-year extension. Russian officials now say they plan to destroy 1 percent of their chemical weapons arsenal by next year, 20 percent by 2007, 45 percent by 2009 and the remainder by 2012.