DISINFO: The US, not Russia, has not disposed of its toxic war material
SUMMARY
The United States, not Russia, is the only country participating in the Chemical Weapons Convention that has not yet disposed of its stockpiles of toxic war materials. It is unequivocally known that Washington has the technical capacity and financial resources to accelerate the process of eliminating chemical weapons
RESPONSE
A recurrent pro-Kremlin narrative claiming that Russia shut down all its chemical weapons programmes, while the US has not.
In September 2017, the international Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) did in fact confirm the destruction of the 39,967 tonnes of chemical weapons possessed by Russia, but Novichoks were never declared to the OPCW and were not included in the Chemical Weapons Convention until 2019.
According to a UK intelligence assessment, based on open-source analysis and intelligence information, over the past decade, Russia has produced and stockpiled Novichok agents. Bellingcat also published an investigation concerning this matter.
As of May 2021, the US, on the other hand, has destroyed 96.52% of its Category 1 chemical weapons stockpile and all of its Category 2 and Category 3 chemical weapons, in a process that started in June 2019, and it is scheduled to be eliminated by Dec. 31, 2023, after the construction of the necessary destruction facilities.
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