§ Mr. CohenTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence what is his Department's latest assessment of the capability of the Soviet Union to safely destroy its stockpile of chemical weapons.
§ Mr. Archie HamiltonWe assess that the Soviet Union does not at present possess a capability for the large-scale safe destruction of chemical weapons. A draft Soviet state programme for CW destruction has recently been completed, apparently containing a number of alternative options for handling the destruction problem. A decision on the programme is awaited from the Supreme Soviet.