Russia pushes back deadline for destroying chemical weapons

Russia pushes back chemical weapons deadline

MOSCOW — Russia’s Foreign Ministry says the country will push back its deadline for destroying chemical weapons stockpiles by as much as three years due to budget and technical problems.

Under the international Chemical Weapons Convention, Russia was to eliminate all its chemical weapons by 2012.

But the Interfax news agency cited the ministry as saying Tuesday that because of the global financial crisis “we have run into objective financial and technical difficulties which oblige us to extend by 2.5-3 years the period of concluding the liquidation.”

Officials in the United States, another treaty signatory, also have acknowledged the country is likely to miss the 2012 deadline.