Funds OK'd for Shchuch'ye Destruction Facility

President George W. Bush waived conditions that prevented U.S. funding from reaching the former Soviet republic of Russia for construction of the Shchuch’ye chemical weapons destruction facility. In a memorandum to Secretary of State Colin Powell Dec. 9, Bush said waiving the chemical weapons certification requirements “is important to the national security interests of the United States.” In the fiscal year 2004 energy and water appropriations bill, Congress approved $200.3 million—the Bush administration’s request—for construction of the Shchuch’ye facility.

The requirements for Russian chemical weapons programs are stricter than those for other Comprehensive Threat Reduction programs. Such rules generally require the administration to certify that states receiving assistance are making progress in getting rid of the arsenals they inherited. For Russia’s chemical weapons program funding, however, Moscow is also required to provide a detailed inventory of its chemical weapons and heightened verification plans for destroying them. There is disagreement over whether the Russian declaration under the Chemical Weapons Convention is complete.