Russia plans to destroy all its chemical weapon stocks by December 2017.
The head of Russia's Federal Department for the Safe Storage and Destruction of Chemical Weapons, Colonel General Valery Kapashin, told Interfax news agency that "the decision was made. The decision is signed."
In August, Kapashin had declared that 94 percent of Russia's chemical weapon stockpiles had been destroyed. The destruction is carried out at only one facility, near the settlement of Kizner in Udmurtia.
In 1993, Russia signed the Convention on Chemical Weapons, which bans the use, possession, production, and transfer of chemical weapons. At that time, Russia declared 40,000 tons of toxic chemicals in its possession. The destruction of the chemical weapon stockpiles began in December of 2002.
