U.S. REVEALS SIZE OF CHEMICAL WEAPONS STOCKPILE.

U.S. REVEALS SIZE OF CHEMICAL WEAPONS STOCKPILE.

In a move partly aimed at prodding Moscow to do the same, the U.S. Defense Department yesterday for the first time revealed the size of the U.S. chemical weapons arsenal: 3.6 million weapons. Both the U.S. and Russia signed the landmark 1993 Chemical Weapons Convention, which envisions the destruction of all chemical weapons by signatories within ten years’ time. However, the convention has not yet come into force because an insufficient number of countries have not ratified it. Nevertheless, the United States and Russia have committed themselves to disclosing the size of their arsenals and to destroying them. U.S. chemical weapons stockpiles are estimated at 31,000 tons, while Moscow estimates its stockpile at some 40,000 tons, (13) a figure much disputed in the West. Lack of faith in Moscow on this score and questions concerning the ability of the United States to verify the destruction of chemical arsenals by other powers, including Russia, has held up U.S. Senate approval of the treaty. In September 1995, the Russian Ministry of Defense estimated that it would cost approximately $3 billion to destroy its chemical weapons stockpile.

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