Disposal of Russia’s vast chemical weapons arsenal

By Andrew Oppenheimer JCBW Editor

Russia is not expected to complete the disarmament of its chemical weapons by the original deadline of 2007, despite ratifying a bilateral agreement with the US on dismantling its chemical arsenal in 1997. While both countries are finding the dismantlement of large lethal stocks of chemicals a formidable challenge under the terms of the Chemical Weapons Convention; Russia expects to complete only the second stage of chemical weapons disarmament by 29 April 2007 - 20 per cent of its stockpile - with another 45 per cent by 2009 and the remainder by 2012. By the end of 2004, Russia had destroyed less than three per cent of its stockpile. The fact that Russia missed the first destruction milestone specified in the treaty and is certain to miss the second is believed to threaten the credibility of the chemical disarmament regime.

During the Cold War, the Soviet Union stockpiled the world's largest arsenal of chemical weapons. It included an estimated 32,200 tonnes of nerve agents (sarin, soman, and V-agents) and 7,700 tonnes of blister agents (lewisite, mustard, and mustard/lewisite mixtures) stored at seven sites. The full complement may be much higher.

Inadequate funding is making it difficult for Russia to meet its disposal requirements, even with the five-year extension that can be requested on a one-time basis under the Chemical Weapons Convention. By 1999 disposal had cost Russia between USD3 billion and USD8 billion. The US had by 2004 provided USD192 million under the Co-operative Threat Reduction (CTR) programme but the Russians have complained about US failure to maintain promised funding. The Russian Ministry Of Defence, which is in charge of chemical weapons disposal, has, however, repeatedly failed to meet Co-operative Threat Reduction requirements.