Chemical Weapons Russia

The lower house of the Russian parliament voted overwhelmingly Friday to ratify an international treaty that bans the manufacture and storage of chemical weapons and commits Russia to destroying its huge stockpile--the world's largest--over the next decade. By joining more than 80 other nations in ratifying the Chemical Weapons Convention, Russia will be agreeing to dispose of 40,000 tons of chemical weapons.

Russian lawmakers cleared a global ban on chemical weapons Wednesday and sent it to President Boris N. Yeltsin for signing, a move that will require Russia to destroy the world's largest chemical arsenal. Interfax news agency quoted the administration as saying Yeltsin had signed the bill, but the report could not be confirmed.

Anatoly Kuntsevich, the retired army general assigned to abolish Russia's chemical and biological warfare programs but lately accused of working to prolong them, was dismissed from his post Thursday. A one-sentence Kremlin announcement said only that Russian President Boris N. Yeltsin fired Kuntsevich for "numerous and gross violations" of his duties as chairman of Yeltsin's Committee on Problems of Chemical and Biological Disarmament.

The lower house of the Russian parliament voted overwhelmingly Friday to ratify an international treaty that bans the manufacture and storage of chemical weapons and commits Russia to destroying its huge stockpile--the world's largest--over the next decade. By joining more than 80 other nations in ratifying the Chemical Weapons Convention, Russia will be agreeing to dispose of 40,000 tons of chemical weapons.

The former head of Russia's chemical weapons disarmament program is under investigation for allegedly smuggling nearly a ton of chemical weapons into the Middle East in 1993, Russian authorities have confirmed. A leading chemical weapons activist said Tuesday that federal authorities suspect Anatoly D. Kuntsevich of delivering to Syria laboratory equipment and a shipment of an acid that can be used to make chemical weapons.

Russian lawmakers cleared a global ban on chemical weapons Wednesday and sent it to President Boris N. Yeltsin for signing, a move that will require Russia to destroy the world's largest chemical arsenal. Interfax news agency quoted the administration as saying Yeltsin had signed the bill, but the report could not be confirmed.

In a victory for free speech in Russia, charges against a scientist who blew the whistle on a top-secret chemical weapons program have been dropped, the prosecutor general's office announced Friday. By closing the case against Vil S. Mirzayanov, charged with disclosing state secrets after writing a 1992 newspaper article about a highly potent new nerve toxin, President Boris N.

A chemist who accused Russia's military leaders of developing their own chemical weapons program has been released from prison pending trial on charges of betraying state secrets. Vil S. Mirzayanov was in jail because he was the acknowledged source for sensational printed revelations that as recently as this spring the Russians were hard at work developing a new type of binary chemical weapon.

A Russian scientist who publicized a covert chemical weapons program and is now being prosecuted for revealing state secrets said he expects to be arrested today after refusing to appear at a closed-door trial that he calls a Stalinist farce. Vil S. Mirzayanov, the first dissident under the government of President Boris N.

Despite protests from U.S. officials and international human rights groups, a Russian scientist who publicized an alleged covert chemical-weapons program faces trial Thursday on charges of divulging state secrets. The closed-door trial of Vil S. Mirzayanov, the first dissident of Boris N. Yeltsin's presidency, comes just days before President Clinton is scheduled to arrive in Moscow for summit talks. The U.S.

The former head of Russia's chemical weapons disarmament program is under investigation for allegedly smuggling nearly a ton of chemical weapons into the Middle East in 1993, Russian authorities have confirmed. A leading chemical weapons activist said Tuesday that federal authorities suspect Anatoly D. Kuntsevich of delivering to Syria laboratory equipment and a shipment of an acid that can be used to make chemical weapons.

Anatoly Kuntsevich, the retired army general assigned to abolish Russia's chemical and biological warfare programs but lately accused of working to prolong them, was dismissed from his post Thursday. A one-sentence Kremlin announcement said only that Russian President Boris N. Yeltsin fired Kuntsevich for "numerous and gross violations" of his duties as chairman of Yeltsin's Committee on Problems of Chemical and Biological Disarmament.

In a victory for free speech in Russia, charges against a scientist who blew the whistle on a top-secret chemical weapons program have been dropped, the prosecutor general's office announced Friday. By closing the case against Vil S. Mirzayanov, charged with disclosing state secrets after writing a 1992 newspaper article about a highly potent new nerve toxin, President Boris N.

A Russian scientist who publicized a covert chemical weapons program and is now being prosecuted for revealing state secrets said he expects to be arrested today after refusing to appear at a closed-door trial that he calls a Stalinist farce. Vil S. Mirzayanov, the first dissident under the government of President Boris N.

Despite protests from U.S. officials and international human rights groups, a Russian scientist who publicized an alleged covert chemical-weapons program faces trial Thursday on charges of divulging state secrets. The closed-door trial of Vil S. Mirzayanov, the first dissident of Boris N. Yeltsin's presidency, comes just days before President Clinton is scheduled to arrive in Moscow for summit talks. The U.S.

A chemist who accused Russia's military leaders of developing their own chemical weapons program has been released from prison pending trial on charges of betraying state secrets. Vil S. Mirzayanov was in jail because he was the acknowledged source for sensational printed revelations that as recently as this spring the Russians were hard at work developing a new type of binary chemical weapon.

How free are Russians today? Ask Vil S. Mirzayanov, if you can. For the past 10 days, that's been impossible. The chemist and father of two young children has been in Lefortovo, the dun-colored, dilapidated KGB holding pen in east Moscow where U-2 pilot Francis Gary Powers was once locked up.

The United States accepted a proposed global accord to ban chemical weapons, giving a major boost to attempts to wind up 24 years of talks by December. Sweden and South Korea also announced acceptance, and others in the 39-nation Conference on Disarmament also appeared ready to approve the treaty, a senior U.S. negotiator said. Conference insiders often have been optimistic since talks began in 1968 that they were near agreement. But this is the first time they have a single compromise text.

How free are Russians today? Ask Vil S. Mirzayanov, if you can. For the past 10 days, that's been impossible. The chemist and father of two young children has been in Lefortovo, the dun-colored, dilapidated KGB holding pen in east Moscow where U-2 pilot Francis Gary Powers was once locked up.