Nearly 80% of Russian chemical weapons destroyed - OPCW
MOSCOW. April 15 (Interfax) - Russia has destroyed 78% of its chemical weapons, Director-General of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) Ahmet Uzumcu said at a meeting with the Federation Council Committee for Defense and Security.
We know that there are certain technical difficulties in destroying chemical weapons. Nevertheless, to date, your country has destroyed about 78% of its chemical weapons stockpiles. And we hope that this process will be over by December 31, 2015, as expected, Uzumcu said.
Thanks to the efforts of the OPCW and its members, 65% of Syrian chemical weapons have now been removed from this country, he also said.
We conduct regular chemical weapon removals so all chemical weapons will be removed from this country by this July, the director-general said.
For the OPCW, the Syrian chemical weapons removal is an unprecedented mission, he said.
For the first time we are in such a situation and this removal became possible thanks to the efforts of Russia, the United States and other members of our organization, Uzumcu said.