Russia's Audit Chamber warned Tuesday that lower than expected foreign funding could slow the country's chemical weapons destruction effortsm AP reported. Russia signed the Chemical Weapons Convention in 1997, the year it was created, pledging to eliminate its arsenal _ the world's largest, at 40 million tons _ within 10 years. However, the international community agreed to extend the deadline to 2012 because of funding problems, and the destruction program has depended on large injections of foreign money. The Audit Chamber said Tuesday that foreign funding next year would amount to only 1.9 billion rubles (US$72.3 million; ¤54.6 million), less than a third of the amount needed according to the Russian program. It said in a statement posted on its Web site that the funding shortfall «could disrupt the schedule to put three chemical weapons destruction plants into operation in 2008.»
