Statement by the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs regarding the completion of the removal of chemical weapons from Syria

The Russian Federation was deeply satisfied and welcomes the successful end of the large-scale and unprecedented international operation for the removal of all the components and precursors of chemical weapons from the Syrian Arab Republic. Thus the most important and complicated stage in the implementation of the plan for the elimination of chemical weapons outside the country, which was developed by the Executive Committee of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) and approved by UN Security Council resolution 2118, has been completed.

The adoption of this plan has become possible thanks to the initiative of the President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin, regarding international control of the Syrian military and chemical potential, which was proposed in 2013 at the acutest stage of the crisis.

Having showed political will and joined the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on their Destruction (OPCW), Syria, supported and assisted by the international community, in the most severe conditions of ongoing military confrontation between government forces and armed radical groups supported from outside, in a record period – six months – was able to implement the unique operation, the only one of its kind in all the 17 years of the existence of the Convention and the OPCW.

We highly appreciate the efforts made for the achievement of this goal by the joint OPCW and UN mission in Syria guided by its special coordinator, Sigrid Kaag.

The principled refusal of its military and chemical potential is a fact: the facilities to produce chemical weapons, the equipment to mix and equip ammunition and all the unequipped means of its supply have been eliminated. About one thousand two hundred tons of toxic chemical substances were removed from the territory of the country, over a hundred tons were neutralised in places of storage in accordance with the agreement with the OPCW.

After the heads of the Russian and the US foreign services reached respective agreements on the 14 September 2013 in Geneva, the Russian Federation was actively involved in the provision of assistance in the chemical demilitarisation of Syria and made a weighty contribution to the enduring of security in the most responsible – ground – stage of the operation. At the request of the Syrian authorities, within the shortest possible deadlines, the Russian Navy and military and transport aviation made large-scale supplies of specialised, including armoured, transport equipment, anti-mine equipment and other material and technical resources, which other states refused to provide due to political considerations. At the expense of the funds contributed by Russia to the UN's target fund for Syria, the joint OPCW and UN mission made additional necessary purchases.

In a spirit of strategic partnership relations, for six months, forces and means of the Russian Navy and the Chinese Navy, in interaction with Danish and Norwegian military ships, ensured the security of the marine phase for the removal of toxic chemical substances from the Syrian port of Latakia by the container ship provided by Denmark and Norway. An action coordination centre for this military and marine tactical group was functioning on board the Russian heavy atomic guided missile cruiser Pyotr Veliky, and also on the large antisubmarine ships Admiral Levchenko and Vice Admiral Kulakov.

With the removal of all the components and precursors of chemical weapons completed, it can be stated with satisfaction that the initiative of the President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin, to establish international control over Syrian chemical weapons has been successfully implemented. Now the final, purely technical stage of the international operation, related to the neutralisation of chemicals on board a specialised US ship and the further disposal of reaction masses in profile US, Finnish and German companies, has started.

Thus, the main purpose of the international effort for the chemical demilitarisation of Syria has been achieved. This is a brilliant example of how well-coordinated and targeted efforts of the international community are able to resolve the most complicated disarmament and non-proliferation tasks. At the same time, it was important to provide all kinds of support in the implementation of the obligations undertaken in the CWC, to the state which showed political will and wilfully refused the entire set of WMD.

The Russian Federation appeals to all states, which are still outside the legal field of the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on their Destruction, to follow the example of the Syrian Arab Republic and to immediately join one of the most successful and effective multilateral agreements in the area of disarmament and non-proliferation.

23 June 2014