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Russia scrapping its chemical arsenal
The first unit of a new Russian chemical weapons disposal site has just been commissioned in the Bryansk region west of Moscow.
The 15 billion ruble facility, built with some help from Germany and Switzerland outside the town of Pochep, is already the sixth such plant in Russia and the biggest in Europe.
7,500 tons, or roughly 19 percent of the chemical warfare agents left over from the Soviet Union, are stored at the Pochep weapons depot. The first four aviation bombs stuffed with chemical agents, were disposed of on Friday.
In Moscow defense analyst Alexander Savelyev hails the Pochep plants commissioning as a major step forward towards better global and national security.
In keeping with the Chemical Weapons Convention, enacted in 1997, all countries are to have scrapped their chemical stockpiles by 2012 and the Bryansk facility is the latest of the many similar facilities built here in the past decade. The last such plant will go online next year in Udmurtiya, Savelyev said.
Russia has devised its own technology of destroying war chemicals, which differs from what they have in the US, another leading stockpiler of chemical weapons. Which of the two is better is hard to say. What really matters here is that both are helping to rid the world of one of the deadliest weapons ever devised by man.
There has recently been much talk in the West whether Russia will be able to meet the 2012 deadline. The commissioning the Bryansk facility is a graphic testament to this countrys strong effort to get the job done in time. Any attempts to speed it up is fraught with dire consequences for all though, experts warn.
Russia is consistently implementing its commitments regarding the destruction of its Cold War arsenals and has every reason to hope that other countries will do their part of this all-important work.
Russia scrapping its chemical arsenal: Voice of Russia
The first unit of a new Russian chemical weapons disposal site has just been commissioned in the Bryansk region west of Moscow.
The 15 billion ruble facility, built with some help from Germany and Switzerland outside the town of Pochep, is already the sixth such plant in Russia and the biggest in Europe.
7,500 tons, or roughly 19 percent of the chemical warfare agents left over from the Soviet Union, are stored at the Pochep weapons depot. The first four aviation bombs stuffed with chemical agents, were disposed of on Friday.
In Moscow defense analyst Alexander Savelyev hails the Pochep plants commissioning as a major step forward towards better global and national security.
In keeping with the Chemical Weapons Convention, enacted in 1997, all countries are to have scrapped their chemical stockpiles by 2012 and the Bryansk facility is the latest of the many similar facilities built here in the past decade. The last such plant will go online next year in Udmurtiya, Savelyev said.
Russia has devised its own technology of destroying war chemicals, which differs from what they have in the US, another leading stockpiler of chemical weapons. Which of the two is better is hard to say. What really matters here is that both are helping to rid the world of one of the deadliest weapons ever devised by man.
There has recently been much talk in the West whether Russia will be able to meet the 2012 deadline. The commissioning the Bryansk facility is a graphic testament to this countrys strong effort to get the job done in time. Any attempts to speed it up is fraught with dire consequences for all though, experts warn.
Russia is consistently implementing its commitments regarding the destruction of its Cold War arsenals and has every reason to hope that other countries will do their part of this all-important work.
Russia scrapping its chemical arsenal: Voice of Russia
