The U.S. Department of Defense announced that the country is moving towards the complete destruction of its chemical weapons by September 30.
The U.S. Department of Defense announced on Thursday the destruction of the last M55 missile in the American arsenal with a warhead with a nerve agent VX at a facility in Richmond (Kentucky).
“With the successful destruction of the entire VX nerve agent stockpile, the United States is moving towards compliance with its international obligations under the Chemical Weapons Convention,” the Pentagon said in a statement. “This progress underscores the U.S. commitment to arms control.” The military department noted that the United States is moving towards the complete destruction of its chemical weapons by September 30, 2023.
The Chemical Weapons Convention entered into force in 1997. In Russia, the last chemical weapons munition was destroyed in September 2017. Inspectors of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons confirmed that Moscow has fully fulfilled its obligations. The Pentagon has shifted the deadlines for the completion of the program for the elimination of its arsenal of toxic substances several times: from 2007 to 2012, then to 2017, to 2021, and finally to 2023.
