29 June 2013 - A train carrying 410 tonnes of a toxic rocket fuel component
which had been stored in deteriorating containers
left Kazakhstan today for safe disposal at a specialized chemical plant in Dzerzhinsk
Russia as part of a project supported by the OSCE
The Organization helps its participating States find a solution to health and environment threats posed by mélange
and combustible missile fuel component that was extensively used in the Warsaw Pact countries during the Cold War as a liquid rocket propellant component for short and medium-range missiles
Speaking at a ceremony on the occasion of this removal held in Sary Ozek
said: “We appreciate the co-operation and support of all our partners that helped ensure the safe removal and shipment of mélange from Kazakhstan’s territory
expert guidance and financial support of all parties involved
this extremely dangerous substance no longer poses a threat to the environment and people in this country.”
Removal of mélange in Kazakhstan is part of a broader OSCE effort to remove the toxic component from a number of OSCE States
The collapse of the Soviet Union saw large quantities of mélange become obsolete in the territory of the post-Soviet countries
The mélange disposal is the largest OSCE donor-financed activity to date
Financial support has been provided by the Czech Republic
Sweden (through the Swedish International Development and Co-operation Agency) and the United States
sponsored to 80 per cent by the country itself and Spain
was implemented by the OSCE together with Kazakhstan’s Defence Ministry
as well as the Closed Joint Stock Company Scientific Production Firm “Technoazot” and the Federal State Enterprise “Zavod Imeni Ya.M.Sverdlova”
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the world needs leadership in the field of nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament
Kazakhstan keeps providing this leadership
Jonathan Granoff is the president of the Global Security Institute
A handout picture provided by the US Department of State on 23 May 2014 shows US Ambassador Eileen Malloy
chief of the arms control unit at the US Embassy in Moscow
standing at the destruction site where the last Soviet short-range missiles under the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty were eliminated