Syria chemical weapons must be destroyed on-site - expert
MOSCOW. Sept 16 (Interfax-AVN) - Syria's chemical weapons should be eliminated on-site under international control; removing them from Syria is not necessary, said Professor Alexander Gorbovsky, an expert with Russia's Green Cross.
"Now that combat operations are continuing it would be extremely dangerous and unnecessary to remove chemical weapons from Syria," Gorbovsky, former head of the Russian national agency for overseeing the observance of the Chemical Weapons Convention, said. The chemical weapons' removal to Russia and its elimination here is not feasible. The current regulatory acts ban the transportation of chemical weapons across Russia. If anyone ventures such a project a wave of indignation will rise, God Forbid! From these points of view I think the chemical weapons should be destroyed in Syria, using a well tested international mechanism approved by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons," said Gorbovsky, who was a member of the Russian delegation to this organization for 15 years.
Such an approach would guarantee that the entire stock of chemical weapons will be eliminated and not fall into the terrorists' or extremists' hands, he said.
"We will send our experts there, and America could do the same. Syria's chemical disarmament will be run almost permanently by the organization's inspectors," Gorbovsky said.
Before reliable information arrives about the size of Syria's chemical weapon arsenal and its content, it would be premature to talk about a mechanism of destroying it, he said.
"I heard [U.S. Secretary of State John] Kerry said that the chemical weapons should be removed. But this sounded as a proposal, not a final decision. This cannot be accepted if we do not know what the size of the chemical weapons arsenal is. The arsenal is reportedly estimated at about 1,000 tonnes and the chemical weapons are reportedly located at 45 sites. Forty-five is an unbelievable figure. Just imagine how many means of transportation are needed to remove the chemical weapons and how many dangerous sites will have to be passed in terms of terror attacks," Gorbovsky said.
