Russia Needs $7 Billion for Next Phase of CW Plan

The second phase of Russia’s chemical weapons disposal effort is expected to cost $7 billion, RIA Novosti reported today (see GSN, Nov. 2).

A revised elimination program was approved Oct. 24. “The new program envisages using three facilities … in the second phase of the chemical weapons decommissioning,” said Viktor Kholstov, deputy chairman of the Russian Federal Industry Agency.

Kholstov also said a facility in Gorny, operating since 2002, is expected to have destroyed all 1,143 metric tons of weapons stored at the site by the end of this year.

“We appreciate the considerable contribution of Britain, Canada, Italy, and Norway to chemical weapons disposal, and also the more recent contributors to the program, New Zealand, Ireland, the Czech Republic and the European Union,” he said.

France is also expected to support Russian chemical weapons destruction, Kholstov said.

Russia has a stockpile of approximately 40,000 tons of chemical weapons. The Chemical Weapons Convention mandates these be destroyed by 2012, according to RIA Novosti (RIA Novosti, Nov. 3).

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