WASHINGTON DC (TASS): The United States expects to complete the elimination of its chemical weapons arsenal in 2023. This was confirmed on Thursday by US Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense overseeing chemical and biological defense, Brandi Vann.
“Of course, in terms of the obligations imposed by [US government] legislation, we should keep in mind the deadline of December 31, 2023. [US] Congress has ordered us to eliminate [the US military chemical warfare arsenal] by that time. we are actually working to meet the September [2023] deadline as stipulated in the Che-mical Weapons Convent-ion, “a Pentagon spokesw-oman said in a webinar ho-sted by the American non-governmental weapons.
“It’s imperative for our national security to meet the deadlines,” Vann said.
According to her, “The United States continues to demonstrate steady and measurable progress towards the complete elimination of the arsenal” of chemical weapons. “I want to emphasize that we remain fully committed to eliminating chemical weapons as safely and as quickly as practicable. The United States is currently on track to move towards the [designated] completion dates [for eliminating the chemical warfare arsenal],” the official said. military department.
“The US has officially destroyed 97% of its [chemical weapons] arsenal. Only 3% separates us from the full implementation of this initiative,” Vann added.
The Chemical Weapons Convention entered into force in 1997. The convention stipulates that chemical weapons must be destroyed no later than 10 years after their entry into force. The largest countries in terms of the volume of declared chemical weapons were Russia (about 40 thousand tons) and the United States (31.5 thousand tons). In Russia, the last chemical weapons ammunition was destroyed on September 27, 2017. Inspectors of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons have confirmed that Moscow has fully complied with its obligations. The Pentagon, on the other hand, has shifted the deadlines for completing the program to eliminate its arsenal of toxic substances several times: from 2007 to 2012, then to 2017, to 2021, and finally to 2023.
