Outside View: Scrapping chemical weapons
By Viktor Litovkin, United Press International
March 27, 2007
(For personal use only)

The executive council of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons met in The Hague in the middle of March. It reviewed the obligations that had been fulfilled in 2006 by signatories to the Convention on the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons and made plans for the future. The meeting was also attended by a Russian delegation, which had many things to report to those in attendance.

By the beginning of the conference, Russia had destroyed 7,007.5 metric tons of its chemical weapons stocks, or 17.5 percent of their total declared amount, which is 40,000 metric tons. The figure also includes 1,143.2 metric tons of yperite and lewisite in Gorny, Saratov Region, which effectively eliminated what remained of that city's chemical weapons stocks.

The detoxification of chemical weapons is continuing at two other facilities in Russia. One is located in Kambarka, Udmurtia, and its capacity for processing lewisite is 9.6 metric tons a day. Total stores of this blister agent there are 6,300 metric tons. The second is in Maradykovsky, Kirov Region, which neutralizes aviation ammunition filled with VX-type gases. It has 4,013.5 metric tons, or 19,657 units of storage.

The process involves pouring a special reagent into the cases to turn the chemicals into a reactive mass which is then removed from the steel shells (to date this has been done to 13,371 submunitions, or 2,899.6 metric tons). The cases are then rinsed, flame-cleaned, and crushed. The mass is also water washed and sent on to high-temperature furnaces for further treatment. In the end it loses every trace of ever having been a deadly poison.

Viktor Kholstov, deputy head of the Federal Industrial Agency responsible for the safe and timely destruction of chemical weapons in Russia, believes that if this measured pace is kept up, then by April 29, 2007, the tenth anniversary of Russia's accession to the convention, the country will have fulfilled or even surpassed its commitments by eliminating just over 20 percent of its stocks, or, more precisely, 8553.4 metric tons of toxic agents.

By the same date in 2009, however, Russia is to destroy 45 percent of its stocks. And by April 29, 2012, it is to report to the OPCW in The Hague that it has destroyed them all. Will it be able to do so? In addition to Gorny, Kambarka and Maradykovsky, there are four more sites with toxic chemicals. These are Kizner in Udmurtia, Leonidovka in the Penza Region, Pochep in the Bryansk Region and Shchuchye in the Kurgan Region. How are things going there?

According to Kholstov, all documents have been prepared, feasibility studies made, and detoxification facilities built. Immediate plans include launching a facility in Leonidovka, one in Pochep and one in Shchuchye. However, under a state program for the destruction of chemical weapons, a facility to dispose of nerve gases stored in the Kurgan Region (5,462 tonnes of sarin, soman and VX gases, or 13.6 percent of all Russian gases, or just 9,382 carloads) was to have come online ahead of the one in Maradykovsky. But Moscow was let down by its partners in Washington under the cooperative threat-reduction program.

The U.S. government promised more than $880 million for the Shchuchye facility when Bill Clinton was still president. But time and time again reasons were found to delay the financial and material aid or cut it down to the bone. First, Washington demanded that Moscow should speedily provide social amenities for the staff: clinics, kindergartens, schools and other public buildings. When that was all done, new requests were put forward that had not been mentioned in any joint documents, something like information about binary chemical weapons or access to institutes doing biological research.

Russia had to rely on its own efforts to meet the deadlines. The priority that had at first been given to Shchuchye as central to fulfilling the convention had to be refocused on the other facilities, including those in Kambarka and Maradykovsky. Shchuchye was allowed to lapse a few years. Now it is being brought up to date, but exclusively with Russian money and thanks to assistance from countries other than the United States.

Other countries helping Russia destroy its chemical arms quickly and safely deserve a special mention. The group is spearheaded by Germany, followed by Switzerland, the Netherlands, Italy, Canada and others. And although their contribution is not more than 10 percent, Russian specialists would have found it hard to get rid of the poisonous weapons of the Cold War without their partnership. There is no longer any doubt that they will be totally demolished -- and on time, in accordance with the schedule set by the OPCW.

(Viktor Litovkin is a military correspondent for the RIA Novosti news agency. This article is reprinted by permission of RIA Novosti. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the opinions of the RIA Novosti editorial board.)