THE HAGUE, Sept. 27 (Xinhua) -- The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) on Wednesday hailed the destruction of the 39,967 metric tons of chemical weapons possessed by the Russian Federation.
"The completion of the verified destruction of Russia's chemical weapons program is a major milestone in the achievement of the goals of the Chemical Weapons Convention. I congratulate Russia and I commend all of their experts who were involved," said OPCW Director-General Ahmet Uzumcu.
The remainder of Russia's chemical weapons arsenal has been destroyed at the Kizner facility in the Udmurt Republic, according to the United Nations' chemical weapons watchdog.
Kizner was the last operating facility of seven chemical weapons destruction facilities in Russia. The six other facilities completed work and were closed between 2005 and 2015.
As the implementing body for the Chemical Weapons Convention, the OPCW oversees the global endeavor to permanently eliminate chemical weapons. Over 96 percent of all chemical weapon stockpiles declared by possessor parties have been destroyed under OPCW verification.
