President's Plenipotentiary: Information about Chemical Weapons in Iraq Is Seen as Propagandistic Pl

'Any information about chemical weapons factories in Iraq is probably just a propagandistic ploy,' announced Chairman of the State Committee for the Destruction of Chemical Weapons and Presidential Plenipotentiary to the Privolzhsk Federal District Sergei Kirienko on March 25. In an interview with a Rosbalt correspondent, he said that he trusts the results of UN weapons inspectors in Iraq. Moreover, Mr Kirienko said that 'if Iraq possessed any weapons of mass destruction, then they would probably have used them by now.' At the same time, he believes that 'the international community should try to create some new laws on chemical weapons.'

'It is currently very easy for any country, including Iraq, to buy the components necessary for making chemical weapons on the world market,' Mr Kirienko explained. 'It is difficult to prevent this happening with the current laws as any producer of these components simply has to claim that they will be used to manufacture goods of mass consumption.