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Canada will provide about £15 million to a UK-managed project to construct an 18km railway that will transport chemical weapons (CW) munitions from their storage depot to the destruction facility at Shchuch'ye, in the Urals.
Shchuch'ye will be the main Russian facility for the destruction of lethal nerve agents, including over four million artillery munitions.
The Canadian contribution is the largest yet from any country to the UK's programme of assistance to Russia in destroying CW stocks.
The UK announced in 2002 that it will make available around £60 million over the next 10 years to assist Russia with its obligations under the Chemical Weapons Convention. The £60 million is part of US$750 million that the UK has made available under the G8 Global Partnership commitment, designed to reduce the
risks of proliferation.
Adam Ingram, Minister for the Armed Forces, said: "It is an important step in strengthening international co-operation to destroy chemical weapons and a very positive development for the G8 Global Partnership against the spread of weapons and materials of mass destruction."
The project will be managed as part of the MoD's assistance programme, under the terms of the UK-Russia bilateral treaty, and will be implemented by the UK's principal contractor, Bechtel Ltd.