Russia to dispose all chemical weapons by 2016

MOSCOW -- Russia will dispose all its chemical weapon stocks by December 31, 2015, a senior Russian official in charge of chemical weapons safety said Tuesday.

"All our chemical ammunition was produced in 1963-1987. The safe terms of the storage have expired," said Vladimir Mandych, deputy head of the Federal Departments for Safe Storage and Disposal of Chemical Weapons.

Deadline of safe stockpiling of the Russian chemical weapons will expire on January 1, 2013, he said, adding that Russia is ready to "fulfill the task and destroy all chemical weapons by December 31, 2015."

The official said that currently some 7,300 chemical ammunition units are in emergency conditions, and 3,000 out of them have been disposed this year.

By the middle of August, Russia has disposed over 26,000 tons of chemical weapons, more than 65 percent of the country's stockpiles, Mandych said.

He noted that Russia's technologies for two-stage disposal of chemical weapons are the world's safest and environmentally friendly.

Russia has allocated some 371 billion rubles ($11.9 billion) for chemical weapons disposals.