Pretty good twofer, being paid to lie to us? And wouldn't it be worth a whole lot more to us if Russia eradicated 100%, not some mere fraction?

http://www.boston.com/dailynews/101/world/Russian_foreign_minister_says_:.shtml

Russian foreign minister says funding needed for weapons reduction

By Anthony Deutsch, Associated Press, 4/11/2001 08:35

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov affirmed Russia's commitment to destroy its massive stockpile of banned chemical weapons Wednesday, but said it needed international help to cover the huge costs.

''I have to tell you frankly that the acuteness of the problem of funding Russia's chemical weapons destruction is still present,'' Ivanov said in The Hague, Netherlands.

''Russia continues to have difficulty destroying in strict compliance with the convention,'' he said.

Ivanov described his talks Wednesday with Jose Bustani, director of the watchdog Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, as ''substantive,'' but declined to disclose details.

The organization's officials said Ivanov's visit showed that Russia was determined to reduce stores of deadly chemicals, but they expressed disappointment that no concrete details were given about how and when it will achieve reduction targets.

Russia which has the world's largest stockpile of chemical weapons agreed to do away with 20 percent of stores by April 2002.

But it is lagging far behind schedule. The OPCW has extended a deadline for destroying the first 1 percent of stockpiles to 2002, meaning Russia will almost certainly miss the 20 percent requirement.

Russia has said it needs international financing for the expensive destruction process, estimated to cost $7 billion. Russian experts say it could take 15 to 30 years to destroy the entire stockpile.

Russia increased its 2001 budget for the project to $40 million mostly to build a destruction plant in the town of Gorny, in the Volga River region of Saratov, the OPCW said. Another $1 billion was needed to build another facility in Schuchye in the Kurgan region.

The Gorny plant, which has drawn some financial support from Europe, is being built to destroy blister agents, older weapons which are at the greatest risk of leakage because of poor storage facilities. The United States is more interested in Schuchye, where more advanced nerve gas weapons are kept.

Ivanov called for international support Wednesday, saying he was confident OPCW member states would ''take the necessary measures.''

''It is our common interest to destroy those masses of chemical weapons,'' he said.

Russia has about 40,000 tons of chemical weapons, compared with 30,000 for the United States. The volume of chemicals for weapons in those two countries alone surpasses that of the rest of the world, OPCW spokesman Peter Kaiser said.

Russia was one of the inaugural signers of a chemical weapons convention that was opened for signing in January 1993. The convention has been ratified by 143 countries, including Russia in 1997. Another 31 nations have signed, but not ratified the treaty.

-- Anonymous, April 11, 2001

Answers

Seems like I have read that Russia is one of the leaders in developing the latest and bestest Bio/Chem materials. So, they now look like they would like to receive some big bucks to get rid of the old stuff that is likely getting dangerous to have around, even for them. Course, the newest stuff won't be destroyed, bet on it.

-- Anonymous, April 11, 2001