U.S. Eliminates New Funding for Russian CW Disposal
U.S. Eliminates New Funding for Russian CW Disposal
By Chris Schneidmiller, NTI Global Security Newswire
March 1, 2007
(For personal use only)

The next two budgets for the U.S. Cooperative Threat Reduction program now include no funding to finish constructing a chemical weapons disposal facility in Russia (see GSN, Nov. 2, 2006).

Washington agreed more than a decade ago to finance construction of the plant at Shchuchye, and has allocated more than $1 billion for the project. However, the estimated cost of the project has risen from roughly $750 million to up to $1.5 billion, said Paul Walker, Legacy Program director at Global Green USA.

There is no indication that the Bush administration plans further funding for the plant, with nothing budgeted in the proposed fiscal 2008 and 2009 spending plans. That leaves somewhere around $275 million appropriated from previous years, which is not enough to make the facility ready to begin eliminating 5,400 tons of nerve agent stored in Siberia, Walker said.

A spokesman for Senator Richard Lugar (R-Ind.), one of the fathers of the CTR program to eliminate former Soviet weapons of mass destruction, said “funding is absent because the construction is complete.”

Walker disagreed.

“Construction isn’t finished. Construction at Shchuchye is about 50 percent done, maybe a little bit more, depending on how you count,” he said.

Delays to the project further undermine Russia’s ability to eliminate its chemical arsenal by April 2012, as required by the Chemical Weapons Convention, Walker said. Experts have already questioned Moscow’s claims that it can destroy 40,000 tons of weapons agents by the deadline (see GSN, Dec. 11, 2006).

Russia to date has finished weapons disposal at its Gorny facility and is operating plants at Kambarka and Maradykovsky.

A significant amount of construction has been completed at Shchuchye, Walker said. Since 2003, contractors have built a perimeter fence and several buildings, including a warehouse and fire station. The superstructure for the two main destruction buildings is largely completed, and weapons disassembly equipment has been designed and tested.

Much of the mechanical equipment for the disposal plant has been awaiting installation for up to two years, left sitting amidst a dispute between Moscow and Washington over bids submitted by Russian subcontractors for the work. The United States estimated that installation would cost around $60 million, and has refused to accept bids that came in around $100 million, Walker said.

“The Shchuchye project has sat there for a couple years without the main task getting done, getting the main destruction building finalized and systematized and operating,” he said. “This has caused frustration all around.”

The replacement three years ago of CTR personnel who had developed continuity and trust with their Russian counterparts has also impaired the project, Walker said.

The U.S. Defense Threat Reduction Agency, which oversees CTR programs, has not responded to questions submitted several weeks ago regarding the Shchuchye project.

Walker said that CTR chief Rear Adm. John Byrd, tired of dealing with the difficult Russian bureaucracy, might be looking to turn over the remaining $275 million to the Russians and let them finish the project.

“They can use that money for whatever they want. They’re probably going to have to pony up some of their own funds to finish it, but the United States would not provide any more funding for chemical weapons destruction,” Walker said. “It’s very clear that the CTR program just wants to get rid of this program, get it off the books and move on.”

He countered that Washington should instead be looking to increase its involvement in Russian chemical weapons disposal: finish work at Shchuchye, support construction of a sister plant at the Kizner chemical depot, and press nations such as Italy to meet their obligations to aid demilitarization projects.

Walker said he was optimistic that U.S. lawmakers would add funding for Russian chemical weapons disposal as they consider the next federal budget. Fiscal 2008 begins in October.

“I think Congress will do something,” he said. “It’s important that we move forward.”