Russian CW Disposal Facility to Open Today

Russia plans to open a new chemical weapons destruction facility today in the Udmurtia region of Russia, RIA Novosti reported (see GSN, Nov. 4).

The facility, the second to begin operation in Russia, is scheduled to destroy 6,349 tons of lewisite by the end of 2007. The site’s destruction capacity is 2,500 tons of lewisite per year.

Operations are expected to begin by the end of this year at a facility in Russia’s Kirov region designed to destroy chemical artillery and warheads for tactical and shorter-range missiles. There are 6,089 tons of VX nerve agent stored at the site; the facility is expected to destroy 4,300 tons of the agent by April 29, 2007.

The three facilities combined are due to eliminate more than 8,000 tons of chemical weapons by April 2007.

With the construction of three additional facilities, Russia intends to meet its Chemical Weapons Convention obligation to destroy 45 percent of its 40,000 tons of chemical weapons by 2009. Complete weapons destruction is expected by 2012, according to RIA Novosti (RIA Novosti, Dec. 1).

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