MOSCOW, February 19. /TASS/. The United States, in contravention of the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC), continues to store highly toxic reactive residues at facilities in the states of Kentucky and Colorado that are left over after the weapons destruction process, Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov, head of the Russian Armed Forces’ Nuclear, Biological and Chemical (NBC) Protection Troops, said.

"The US was supposed to complete the destruction of declared chemical weapons stockpiles in 2007, but despite the available economic potential, it only did so in 2023, twice postponing the deadline under the pretext of financial, organizational and technical difficulties. At the same time, the destruction process was monitored by limited inspection teams that did not include experts from Russia. The US still has highly toxic reactive substances left over at the Blue Grass (Kentucky) and Pueblo (Colorado) facilities," Kirillov said at a Russian Defense Ministry briefing on violations by the US and Ukraine of CWC requirements.

The senior defense official recalled that the 105th session of the Executive Council of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) will be held in The Hague, Netherlands, on March 5-8. "This organization was established in 1997 after the entry into force of the Chemical Weapons Convention. One of the initiators of the convention was Russia, which signed it in 1993 and ratified it in 1997. Russia destroyed its entire chemical weapons stockpile in September 2017, ahead of schedule. The destruction took place under the full control of the OPCW and inspectors from Western countries, primarily the United States," Kirillov said.

According to him, the fact of the complete liquidation of Russia’s chemical weapons stockpiles was officially confirmed during the 86th session of the OPCW.