(Washington) The United States has destroyed its last stockpiles of chemical weapons, President Joe Biden announced on Friday, completing a process that began in 1997 with the signing of the Global Convention on the Prohibition of these lethal weapons.
“For more than 30 years, the United States has worked tirelessly to eliminate its stockpiles of chemical weapons. Today I am proud to announce that the United States has safely destroyed the last munition from this stockpile – bringing us one step closer to a world free of the horrors of chemical weapons,” Joe Biden said in a statement. communicated.
The other signatories to the 1997 Chemical Weapons Convention had already eliminated their reservations, Fernando Arias, director-general of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, announced in May.
Only the United States should finish destroying their reserves, he said, adding that more than “70,000 tons of the most dangerous poisons in the world” had been destroyed under the supervision of his organization.
Ahead of the White House announcement, Republican Senate heavyweight Mitch McConnell announced on Friday that the “Blue Grass” depot, a military site located in his state of Kentucky (central east), had recently completed eliminate some 500 tons of lethal chemical agents after a four-year mission.
These reserves represented the last held by the United States armed forces.
“Although the use of these lethal weapons will forever be an indelible stain on history, our nation has finally fulfilled its promise to rid itself of this scourge,” the Republican tenor said in a statement, adding that “weapons chemicals are responsible for some of the most horrific episodes in terms of human casualties”.
In his statement, President Joe Biden also encouraged the rest of the world to sign the 1997 Convention, so that “the global ban on chemical weapons reaches its full potential”.
“Russia and Syria must once again comply with the Convention and recognize their undeclared programs, which have been used to commit atrocities and brazen attacks”, further launched the American president.