Russia:  Chemical Stockpile Needs Better Security, Official Says

Russia must provide better security for its chemical weapons stockpile, according to Sergei Kiriyenko, who heads a Russian commission overseeing chemical weapons destruction (see GSN, March 5).

Kiriyenko, also an envoy of Russian President Vladimir Putin, said last week that existing security practices are not sufficient for terrorist threats.

“According to the government program, security measures are adequate, but that program was adopted before Sept. 11 (and) before the Nord-Ost tragedy,” he said, referring to the Moscow theater siege last October (see GSN, Jan. 24).

Kiriyenko said that despite official mandates, security at many facilities is still lacking.

“The commission demands that more money be spent on security, even if it means cutting spending in other areas,” he said (Reuters/Planet Ark, March 10).

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China:  Russia Ready to Aid Disposal of Abandoned Japanese Chemical Weapons in China

Russia is ready to offer China technical expertise to help dispose of Japanese chemical weapons left behind after World War II, ITAR-Tass reported today (see GSN, Dec. 10, 2002).

“Russian technology cannot be used directly in such conditions, but Russian experience of chemical weapons destruction is quite applicable,” said Viktor Petrunin, director of the Research Institute of Organic Chemistry and Technology in Moscow.

China has claimed that more than 2 million former Japanese chemical munitions have remained in China for more than 50 years.  Japanese experts have said the number is closer to about 700,000 (Anatoly Yurkin, ITAR-Tass, March 7).

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Iraq:  United Kingdom Backed Iraqi Chemical Plant in 1985, Report Says

Despite knowing that it could be helping Iraq acquire chemical weapons capabilities, the United Kingdom gave insurance guarantees in 1995 to help build an Iraqi chemical plant, the London Guardian reported today.

The Fallujah 2 chemical plant was featured in U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell’s presentation to the U.N. Security Council last month (see GSN, Feb. 6).

While senior British officials wrote at the time that there was a “strong possibility” that the plant would be used to produce mustard gas, ministers still approved insurance guarantees for the British company Uhde, according to documents.

The plant cost more than 14 million pounds and the United Kingdom paid more than 300,000 pounds when the 1991 Gulf War interrupted payments.

Then-British trade minister Paul Channon concealed the arrangement from the United States and the British public, the Guardian reported.  The United States was pushing for export controls related to chemical weapons production at the time, according to the Guardian.

Channon overrode objections and wrote, “A ban would do our other trade prospects in Iraq no good.”

Channon declined to comment to the Guardian.

A spokesman for Uhde’s German parent company said, “This was a normal plant for the production of chlorine and caustic soda.  It could not produce other products” (Leigh/Hooper, London Guardian, March 6).

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Russia:  Gorny Disposal Plant to Remain In Operation

Russia’s sole chemical weapons disposal facility, located in Gorny, will continue to operate, despite an recent order calling for operations to stop to address environmental issues, Russian disarmament officials said yesterday (see GSN, March 4).

The Gorny plant is operating normally and the order, issued by the Russian Natural Resources Ministry, was simply the result of a bureaucratic dispute, said Sergei Kiriyenko, chairman of the state commission on chemical disarmament.  Zinovy Pak, head of the Russian Munitions Agency, also said the facility would remain in operation, adding that the order was only a warning and that the plant’s documentation would be brought in line with the law.

“The ministry will go beyond warning in its sanctions if order is not established in this sphere,” Pak was quoted by Interfax as saying.  “The decision may be made to suspend operation, which nobody wants to allow to happen,” he added (Mara Bellaby, Associated Press/Environmental News Network, March 5).

Germany to Provide Funding

Meanwhile, Germany has agreed to provide more than $6.5 million to the Gorny plant, Sergei Lisovsky, Russian regional industry, science and technology minister, said Monday.  Russian and German officials are currently discussing whether the funding will go toward improving the plant’s capacity or to construct residential and social facilities, he said (Rosbalt news, March 4).

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CWC:  Andorra Ratifies Chemical Weapons Convention

Andorra ratified the Chemical Weapons Convention and deposited its instrument of ratification with the United Nations Feb. 27 (see GSN, Feb. 19).  When Andorra’s accession takes effect March 29, it will become 151st party to the treaty (Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons release, March 5).

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