Russia Approves New Chemical Weapons Destruction Plan
Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov approved a resolution July
5 to overhaul Moscow’s existing 1996 plan to destroy its chemical
weapons. The new scheme would require an extension of the Chemical
Weapons Convention’s (CWC) deadlines but could reduce demilitarization
costs by 30-50 percent. (See text
of new plan.)
Kasyanov approved the resolution after it was initially reviewed
by several government agencies in mid-June and subsequently modified
by the Russian Munitions Agency (RMA), the civilian body heading
chemical weapons destruction. According to an RMA official, the
Russian government does not need to take further action for the
plan to come into force.
Under its new plan, Russia would finish destroying its chemical
weapons stockpile by 2012, missing the final convention deadline
in 2007, by which member states must have completely eliminated
their chemical weapons arsenals. This schedule would force Moscow
to seek approval from CWC’s oversight body, the Organization
for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), to take advantage
of a CWC provision that allows extension of the deadline by up to
five years. Moscow will “most likely” submit its new plan
this fall to the OPCW, the RMA official said.
The plan’s destruction schedule also misses all intermediate
convention deadlines for destroying certain percentages of Russia’s
“Category 1” (the highest “risk” category) chemical
weapons. Russia missed the first intermediate CWC deadline in April
2000 for destroying these weapons, which the OPCW extended by two
years.
Russia had previously planned to build seven facilities to eliminate
its chemical weapons, one at each of its chemical weapons storage
locations. To save money, the new plan will scale back the number
of destruction facilities to three, which will be located at Gorny,
Shchuch’ye, and Kambarka, the official said.
Moscow plans to operate the Gorny facility from 2002 to 2005 and
the Shchuch’ye and Kambarka sites from 2005 to 2011. Rather
than construct a demilitarization facility at the Kizner storage
site, under the new resolution Russia will transport weapons stored
at Kizner to Shchuch’ye for destruction before 2012.
According to the RMA official, this last provision is in response
to demands placed on Russia by the U.S. Congress. Led by the House,
Congress has blocked new U.S. funding for the Shchuch’ye facility
for the past two fiscal years. Last year, even though it did not
resume funding, Congress said future appropriations should be conditional
upon Russia meeting five requirements, including a demand that Moscow
use only one site to destroy its entire nerve-agent stockpile, which
is stored at several locations, including Kizner.
In a significant step toward renewing U.S. funding for Shchuch’ye,
on August 1 the House Armed Services Committee matched the Bush
administration’s $35 million request for the project for the
upcoming fiscal year, also conditional upon the same five requirements.
In addition to constructing demilitarization facilities, Russia’s
new plan also allows Moscow to construct facilities at the Pochep,
Leonidovka, and Maradykovsky sites to neutralize chemical agents
stored at these locations. But the official said that a final decision
on building these facilities will depend on “the outcome of
the operation” of the destruction facilities. Whether agents
would be transported to Shchuch’ye for destruction after neutralization
also remains undetermined.
The resolution also calls for Russia to destroy its chemical weapons
production facilities (CWPFs) that are not converted for civilian
use by April 29, 2007, as required by the convention. Of its 24
declared CWPFs, six have been destroyed, and seven have been converted.
The revised plan is the latest in a series of steps to improve
Russia’s struggling chemical demilitarization effort. On May
4, President Vladimir Putin approved the creation of a new commission,
headed by former Prime Minister Sergei Kiriyenko, to “ensure
cooperation” between federal and regional bodies dealing with
chemical weapons destruction and to help oversee the demilitarization
process. Additionally, last December, Russia boosted demilitarization
funding six fold to approximately $105 million for the current fiscal
year, according to the RMA official.
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