GREEN CROSS AND THE DESTRUCTION OF CHEMICAL WEAPONS

Professor Sergei Baranovsky Executive Director, Green Cross Russia

As Russia’s preparations to ratify the Chemical Weap- A Presidential Decree of 24 March 1995 requires that all ons Convention and to begin the destruction of its chemical chemical weapons destruction be conducted in the regions weapons enter their final stages, it becomes essential that where the weapons are presently stored, comprising 7 sites there be a credible independent source of information on the within the Russian Federation. The decree also created a problems of chemical weapons destruction. Green Cross high-level Interdepartmental Commission on Chemical Russia is attempting to develop such information and to Disarmament to oversee and expedite Russia’s chemical make it available for public education and for the design demilitarization activities. and evaluation of chemical weapons destruction measures As a first step, CHEMTRUST developed a computer- that protect public health and ensure ecological safety. ized data base containing geological, ecological, demo- Green Cross Russia is an affiliate of Green Cross Inter- graphic, medical and other information for analysis of national, an international organization with offices in 18 possible risks associated with the stockpile of 6400 tons of countries working to bring together decision-makers, inde- lewisite (an arsenic-containing blister agent) stored in bulk pendent experts and grassroots movements from all sectors containers at a site near the town of Kambarka in the of society to find and implement practical measures for en- Udmurt Republic. CHEMTRUST is also gathering data on vironmental protection and sustainable development. The public health in , near the former chemical uniqueness of Green Cross lies in its focus on conflict pre- weapons test site at and also in the vicinity of the vention and the need for reconciliation of competing per- town of Gornyi, near which some 1200 tons of lewisite and spectives through information and dialogue, not through mustard are stored. confrontation. Russian Green Cross has established Udmurt and Green Cross Russia has close contacts with non-govern- Saratov local affiliates in order to insure and grass-roots mental environmental organizations, scientific institutions participation and local credibility in its CHEMTRUST pro- and governmental authorities at local and national levels. jects. Openness is all the more important because, until the Earlier this month, it supported the passage at first reading beginning of perestroika and the visit of international ob- of draft legislation in the State Duma that provides a legal servers to Shikhany in 1987, the public was kept in igno- basis for the destruction of Russia’s chemical weapons and rance even of the existence of massive stocks of chemical will work for enlightened environmental and public health warfare agents in our country. provisions in the law as it works its way through the remain- Effective forms and methods of public education and der of the legislative process. participation are essential to the successful introduction of A major Green Cross activity is the Legacy Programme, the new safe technologies of chemical weapons neutraliza- intended to facilitate environmentally sound cleanup of tion and destruction. Toward this end, Green Cross Russia toxic hazards resulting from the Cold War. The programme organized a two-day open hearing on the destruction of was proposed by Mikhail Gorbachev, President of Green chemical warfare agents stored at Gornyi, namely lewisite Cross International, and is being implemented through three and mustard. The hearing, held during 17–18 October 1995 GCI affiliates — Green Cross Russia, Global Green USA in the city of Saratov on the river, sought to establish and Green Cross Switzerland. mutual understanding between local citizens and environ- One of the most active Legacy Programme activities, mental NGOs on the one side and authorities and ministries operated by Green Cross Russia with financial support from on the other, leading to practical steps for safe destruction of Green Cross Switzerland, is CHEMTRUST, promoting the Gornyi chemical weapons stocks. safe practical solutions to problems of chemical weapons Participants in the Saratov hearing, entitled “From Con- destruction. frontation to Cooperation”, included individuals from the

Forthcoming events

The Council for Arms Control and CDISS, A Regional Seminar on the CWC organ- The thirteenth plenary session of the Lancaster University, are organizing a joint ized by Austrian authorities in conjunction OPCW Preparatory Commission will be seminar on the control of chemical & bio- with the OPCW PTS will take place in Vi- held in The Hague during 18–22 March logical weapons to be held at King’s Col- enna on 6–8 March 1996. A similar semi- 1996. The fourteenth will take place on lege London on 18 January 1996. Contact nar will be held in Tehran during February 22–26 July, and the fifteenth is scheduled +44 1249 782542 for details. on dates yet to be announced. for 9–13 December 1996.

CWCB 30 Page 2 December 1995 Saratov Regional Duma, the Saratov Regional Administra- Specific subjects addressed included issues of plant con- tion, the Saratov Regional Committee on Nature Protection, struction and operation in Gornyi, public health, remedia- the Saratov Medical University, the administration of the tion of the Gornyi site, and specific CW weapons Krasnopartisanskiy District (in which the CW agents are destruction technologies and their features. Notably, repre- actually located), the State Duma of the Russian Federation, sentatives of Ministry of Defense took an active part and the Ministry of Defense, the Ministry for the Environment addressed numerous questions posed by other participants and Natural Resources, the Ministry of Public Health, the and by members of the audience. Interagency Commission on Chemical Weapons Destruc- Although important questions remain, the Saratov hear- tion, the Presidential Committee on the Chemical and Bio- ing clearly served to open valuable new channels of com- logical Weapons Conventions, the State Scientific Research Institute of Organic Chemistry and Technology munication. Many participants expressed the view that it (GosNIIOKhT), the Russian Academy of Sciences, the in- cleared up certain misunderstandings and opened the way dustrial consortium MetalChim and representatives of to cooperation in addressing the real problems of chemical Green Cross International and Green Cross Russia. weapons destruction. It was recommended that similar The Saratov hearings discussed the complex of politi- hearings be held at other locations of chemical weapons cal, ecological, social, medical, economic, technological stockpiling and destruction. Accordingly, Green Cross and other problems, connected with the chemical weapons Russia is planning to convene its next open hearing on destruction stored on the territory of the . chemical weapons destruction in Kambarka in May.

Deposited CWC Ratifications as of 12 December 1995 Fiji — 20 January 1993 Peru — 20 July 1995 Mauritius — 9 February 1993 Algeria — 14 August 1995 Seychelles — 7 April 1993 Austria — 17 August 1995 Sweden — 17 June 1993 Poland — 23 August 1995 Norway — 7 April 1994 Ecuador — 6 September 1995 Australia — 6 May 1994 South Africa — 13 September 1995 Albania — 11 May 1994 Japan — 15 September 1995 Maldives — 31 May 1994 Canada — 26 September 1995 Cook Islands — 15 July 1994 Argentina — 2 October 1995 Spain — 3 August 1994 Slovak Republic — 27 October 1995 Bulgaria — 10 August 1994 El Salvador — 30 October 1995 — 12 August 1994 Georgia — 27 November 1995 Sri Lanka — 19 August 1994 Namibia — 27 November 1995 Mexico — 29 August 1994 Italy — 8 December 1995 Turkmenistan — 29 September 1994 Uruguay — 6 October 1994 Paraguay — 1 December 1994 Imminent Ratifications Lesotho — 7 December 1994 Belarus Greece — 22 December 1994 Benin Tajikistan — 11 January 1995 Brazil Mongolia — 17 January 1995 Cameroon Armenia — 27 January 1995 Côte d’Ivoire Finland — 7 February 1995 Czech Republic Oman — 8 February 1995 Ethiopia Romania — 15 February 1995 Hungary France — 2 March 1995 India Switzerland — 10 March 1995 Latvia Croatia — 23 May 1995 Papua New Guinea Monaco — 1 June 1995 Saudi Arabia Netherlands — 30 June 1995 United Arab Emirates Denmark — 13 July 1995 United Kingdom

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