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Secrets of Russia's chemical stockpile now online

MOSCOW, Oct 3 (AFP) - The whats and wheres of Russia's massive stockpile of chemical weapons are now available to any Internet user, through the fledgling web site of Russia's munitions agency.

The www.munition.gov.ru website offers details on the number and whereabouts of Russia's chemical arsenals, the kind of chemical weapons stored there and technologies of eliminating them and preventing possible leaks.

According to experts, such information had always been available to UN officials, but had never been made public until now.

Chemical weapons expert Alexander Kalyadin dismissed worries that such data could serve extremists, telling the ITAR-TASS news agency that there had been no such theft in the entire history of chemical weapons in Russia.

Russia, which has accumulated some 40,000 tonnes of chemical weapons -- the world's largest chemical stockpile -- has often claimed insufficient funds as the reason for not getting rid of them.

The 1997 International Chemical Weapons Convention stipulates that Russia must eliminate 20 percent of its chemical weapons by the end of the year and get rid of the entire arsenal by the start of 2007.

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