BEIJING, September 4. / TASS/. It will take decades to eliminate the remaining chemical weapons arsenals of the Imperial Japanese Army from World War II on the territory of Chinese provinces bordering Russia, Russia's Permanent Representative to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, Vladimir Tarabrin, who is on a visit to China, told TASS.

"There are mainly shells with pepper gas, chlorine, and sulfur-based agents. <…> The gases that were used during World War II," he said. The diplomat noted that each shell must be carefully extracted, transported to a special facility, cleaned, and after several technological stages, they are moved to a special chamber where they are destroyed by explosion.

"This is every shell. And there are hundreds of thousands of them. <…> They are all in the ground. They extract several hundred [per year]," Tarabrin said. According to him, this work has been ongoing since 2007, and each year the deadlines for its completion are pushed back. "The current plan is supposed to end in 2027. It is absolutely clear that it will not be fulfilled," Tarabrin emphasized. He also agreed with the view that, at the current pace, this work will take many years. "This is a matter of decades," the Russian permanent representative to the OPCW stated.

"The Chinese side has legitimate claims against the Japanese side. Primarily, that insufficient funds and personnel are being allocated," he emphasized.

"Everything works very slowly. The Japanese also complain that this is very dangerous work. Incidentally, in May of this year, two Japanese experts suffered burns," the diplomat said.

Earlier, Tarabrin stated that some of the remaining Japanese chemical weapons arsenals are located 20 km from the border with Russia in the Chinese city of Hunchun (Jilin province, bordering Primorsky Region). In his assessment, these chemical weapons stockpiles pose a threat to the population and the environment, including due to the risk of leakage and contamination of groundwater.