Russia Received Only 25 Per Cent of Western Funds to Destroy Chemical Weapons

Text of report by Russian news agency RIA Novosti

Moscow, 9 August: Russia has received from its Western partners only little more that 25 per cent of the promised financial assistance for the destruction of the stockpiles of its chemical weapons.

“Of the promised foreign financial aid of R42bn for the destruction of chemical weapons in Russia, by today we have received slightly over 25 per cent, which is essentially R11bn,” the head of the federal directorate for safe storage and destruction of chemical weapons, Lt-Gen Valeriy Kapashin, told journalists on Thursday [9 August].

[RIA Novosti, Moscow, in Russian 1339 gmt 9 Aug 07, quoted Kapashin as saying that by the end of 2009 Russia will destroy 45 per cent of all stockpiles of chemical weapons. "By the end of December 2009, when it was decided to complete the third stage of fulfilling the international obligations on destroying chemical weapons, we will destroy 45 per cent of all the stockpiles of chemical weapons and which amounts to 18,500 tonnes," the general was quoted as saying to journalists.]

(c) 2007 BBC Monitoring Former Soviet Union. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.