Global Security Newswire

Russia's Maradykovsky facility has destroyed one ton of sarin gas, the first of 231 tons of the deadly nerve agent that the site plans to eliminate by the end of the year, ITAR-Tass reported yesterday (see GSN, June 29).

The effort to dispose of the substance at the Maradykovsky facility -- which has stored more than 40,000 sarin bombs and missile warheads for half a century -- is being overseen by several groups, including the United Nations. The effort is part of Moscow's 2006 pledge to destroy its stockpiled chemical weapons by 2012.

The Maradykovsky plant is the third Russian facility to begin the chemical weapons disposal process (ITAR-Tass, July 29).