Russia Faces Chemical Weapons Disposal Funding Challenges
Monday, April 13, 2009

A Russian official reaffirmed last week that the nation has not yet received the full amount of anticipated funding for its chemical weapons disposal work from other countries, a problem that is likely to be exacerbated by the global economic downturn, Interfax reported (see GSN, Feb. 27).

"Due to the financial crisis the amount of international help will reduce, and Russia will have to rely on itself," Grigory Rapota, head of the state commission on chemical disarmament, said during an event Thursday near the disposal plant at Leonidovka.

Russia at the beginning of this year had received nearly $584 million in outside support for chemical disarmament, 46 percent of the amount expected from nations participating in the Group of Eight Global Partnership Against the Spread of Weapons and Materials of Mass Destruction, Interfax reported. Some support comes in the form of technical assistance, Rapota said.

"There are certain obligations, which were assumed by the Chemical Weapons Convention states parties voluntarily and are reflected in chemical disarmament plans. And if these obligations are not being met, this puts us in a difficult situation," he said.

The international convention requires Russia to eliminate its chemical arsenal, which originally stood at 40,000 metric tons of warfare agents, by April 2012. The disposal program as of March 20 had destroyed 12,000 metric tons, 30.1 percent of the entire stockpile, Interfax reported (Interfax I, April 10).

Research and development work for Russia's chemical disarmament program could be one of the victims this year of a $4.1 billion reduction in defense funding, Interfax reported.

"The budget funding of the scientific research for national defense purposes was decreased by [$338 million], which resulted in the recall of 363 research and development projects in the field of national defense," a Russian Defense Ministry source said (Interfax II, April 10).