German Ministry of Foreign Affairs, The second Russian chemical weapons destruction plant was opened on 1 March in Kambarka/Republic of Udmurtia (Russian Federation).
Germany contributed almost 150 million euro towards the construction of the plant, while the European Union made available a further 4 million euro. German firms, which provided engineering services and high-quality technological components, played a major role in the plant's construction.
The Russian Federation is thus underscoring its intention to comply with its obligations under the Chemical Weapons Convention and to destroy its entire stockpile of chemical weapons within set deadlines. With around 40,000 metric tons of declared warfare agents, Russia has the largest stockpile of chemical weapons in the world. In Kambarka alone 6,350 metric tons of lewisite, an agent which causes blistering of the skin, are stored. This amounts to just under 16% of all Russian warfare agents. The destruction of all warfare agents in Kambarka is to be completed by 2009.
In 2002 the first chemical weapons destruction plant was opened with German support in Gorny/Saratov region. The destruction of the 1,250 metric tons of warfare agents stored there was completed at the end of 2005.
Support for the building of these plants forms part of the G8's “Global Partnership Against the Spread of Weapons and Materials of Mass Destruction” initiative. In this the G8 leaders and the EU representatives pledged to support projects aimed at reducing nuclear, chemical, biological and radiological proliferation risks, over a period of 10 years, with up to US$ 20 billion. Germany committed up to US$ 1.5 billion towards that amount.
The German Government was represented at the opening ceremony by Ambassador Friedrich Gr
Kremlin says nuclear weapons in Finland would threaten Russia
Russia said on Friday it saw Finland's move to lift restrictions on hosting nuclear weapons as a potential threat and...
