MOSCOW, April 21 (RIA Novosti) – Russia has completed the disposal of over 15,000 tons of highly toxic rocket fuel components imported from Ukraine, the Russian Foreign Ministry said Monday.
"Russia has successfully completed the OSCE-guided project to export more than 15,000 tons of highly toxic components of Mélange rocket fuel from the territory of Ukraine, and to further recycle them at Russian enterprises,” said Alexander Lukashevich, a spokesman for the ministry.
A 2009 contract between the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, the Ukrainian Defense Ministry and the Russian consortium provided for Russia's disposal of Mélange, which was used as a rocket fuel oxidizer in Soviet intermediate- and short-range missiles destroyed in accordance with a 1987 treaty.
The project was funded by Hungary, Germany, Denmark, Spain, Norway, Poland, the US, Finland, the Czech Republic and Sweden. Over 15,000 tons of Mélange have been delivered to Russia from Ukraine since November 2009 under the program, later reprocessed for non-military uses.
