Russia spends over 330 bln rubles to scrap chemical weapons - state commission head
MOSCOW. March 13 (Interfax) - Russia has spent over 330 billion rubles to dispose of its chemical weapons, Mikhail Babich, the Russian presidential envoy to the Volga Federal District and head of the state commission for the disposal of chemical weapons, said on Monday.
Russia signed the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) in January 1993, and it declared possession of approximately 40,000 tonnes of chemical warfare substances at that time. The federal chemical arms disposal program kicked off in December 2002.
"By now, Russia has spent over 330 billion rubles on implementing this program," Babich said at a meeting with President Vladimir Putin.
Some 12 billion rubles has been spent on social infrastructure in the regions which hosted the program, and all these facilities are already functioning, he said.
A new stage is about to begin, as a working group has been set up to commercialize the former chemical arms disposal facilities, he said.
"We have reached the stage when we are cleaning up the aftermath of chemical arms disposal; once this is over, we will be ready to offer these facilities to potential investors so that the money spent by Russia on this work is not wasted," Babich said.
The world has amassed almost 70,500 tonnes of chemical weapons, he said. "Russia had the largest stock of 40,000 tonnes; the Americans had 27,000 tonnes, and the rest was divided between other countries," Babich said.
The Convention on the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons has been signed by 192 states, and Russia has entered the final stage of its chemical disposal program, Babich said. "Work had been finalized at six out of seven chemical arms disposal facilities in Russia in November 2016, I told you so earlier. In fact, work is currently focused on one facility, Kizner, in the Republic of Udmurtia," the envoy said.
