Gorny
The chemical weapons stored at the seven locations where chemical agents are stockpiled are categorized by the branch of the military service that commands the installation. The Chemical and Biological Forces are responsible for Gorny and Kambarka, which only house blister agents in bulk containers. The Mustard, Lewisite and Mustard-Lewisite mixture are stored primarily in large bulk containers (similar to, but much larger than, the one-ton storage containers in the U.S. stockpile).
Gorny, in Saratov region, is one of the oldest chemical weapons storage facilities of the Russian Defense Ministry. The containers of mustard gas and lewisite at Gornyy are thought to be the oldest elements of the Russian inventory of agents. The 1,500 tons of agent was brought to Gorny during the Great Patriotic War. At a distance of 100 kilometers on the other side of the Volga lies the Shikany-2 chemical weapons development and testing facility. On 26 January 1995 a decree of the Russian Federation Government ordered the construction at Gorny of a plant for chemical weapons disposal, a research unit for the development of toxic substances disposal technology, and a disposal site for burying the waste from the destruction process.
Under terms of the 1997 Chemical Weapons Convention, starting in December 2002, the Russians will use the plant to destroy over a planned 2 1/2 years an estimated 1,200 tons of lewisite, or arsine, an arsenic-based gas, and yperite, or mustard gas. The facility was paid for with more than $60 million from Germany.
Sources and Methods
- Transcript of 2 July TV Program on Shikhany CW Center : JPRS-TAC-94-009-L : 2 July 1994
- Allegation of Continued Novichok CW Testing : FBIS-SOV-95-031 : 7 Feb 1995
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