Opening of International Inspection Zone at Russian CW Facility Postponed

Excerpt from report by Russian state news agency ITAR-TASS

Bryansk, 12 May: The opening of the international inspection zone at the chemical weapons destruction facility at Pochep, Bryansk Region has been postponed to June for “technical reasons”. ITAR- TASS was told this at the press service of the regional information centre for chemical disarmament.

The press service said that the head of the federal directorate for safe storage and destruction of chemical weapons, Valeriy Kapashin, today held a closed door meeting.

The “inspection zone” is for foreign observers. “The disposal of chemical weapons cannot be started without international observers. Proper infrastructure is needed to receive inspectors,” the press centre of the regional information centre told ITAR-TASS.

The Pochep storage facility is the largest in Europe. It contains 7.5 tonnes of poisonous substances (19 per cent of the entire Russian stockpile). [Passage omitted]

Originally published by ITAR-TASS news agency, Moscow, in Russian 1311 12 May 08.

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