Russia has already destroyed 13 percent of its 40,000 ton chemical weapons stores inherited from the Soviet Union said Viktor Kholstov, deputy head of the Federal Industry Agency.

Russia signed the Chemical Weapons Convention in 1997, the year it was created, pledging to eliminate its arsenal within 10 years. However, the deadline was moved to 2012 because of funding problems.

In September, Russia opened its first nerve agent destruction plant. Victor Kholotsov hopes that the entire arsenal of chemical weapons will be eliminated according to plan and by April 2007, Russia will eliminate 8,000 tons of toxic agents.

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