Translated material
The Americans came to their senses
US unfreezes funding for chemical weapons destruction
Yesterday, US President George W. Bush ordered the unfreezing of funding for the destruction of chemical weapons in Russia. $416 million will now be spent on the construction of a plant for the destruction of toxic substances in the village of Shchuchye, Kurgan region, where it is planned to dispose of about 2 million artillery shells and Scud tactical missile warheads filled with toxic substances. They can wipe out the world's population at least 20 times over.Funds for work on this arsenal are allocated under the program of Senators Nunn and Lugar on joint threat reduction adopted back in 1991. But the funding was suspended by Congress last year because the Bush administration failed to provide a certification that Russia was complying with its arms control obligations. Under pressure from international criticism and mainly fearing that these chemical agents could end up in the hands of terrorists, Congress gave the US President the right to circumvent the ban on the provision of money. Which is what he did.
In the coming year, the first tranche of $160 million will be transferred. Taking into account the 5.3 billion rubles allocated from the Russian budget. and assistance from other states, 12 billion rubles are being collected, which Russia needs annually to fulfill its obligations under the 1993 international convention. At the Shchuchye plant it is planned to destroy organophosphorus toxic substances from other arsenals. The remaining funds can be used to create an effective security system for storing weapons of mass destruction.