Russia to miss weapons target

Russia will miss an April 2012 deadline for destroying its chemical weapons by up to three years, officials said yesterday.

The announcement came as they opened a facility at Pochep, 250 miles southwest of Moscow, the latest of six built to dismantle Russia's Cold War-era chemical weapons.

Pochep will process nearly 19 per cent of Russia's stockpile, or some 7,500 tons of nerve gas.