Gorbachev Calls on World Leaders to Help

Abolish Chemical Weapons

On June 25, President Gorbachev sent letters to dozens of heads of state and other political leaders in the United States, Europe and Russia making an urgent call for nations to commit mutual financial support to Russia's flagging chemical weapons destruction programme. The response so far to this rare appeal has been heartening, with positive replies from: US President Bill Clinton; Russian Federation President Vladimir Putin; President of the Confederation of Switzerland, Adolf Ogi; UK Prime Minister, Tony Blair; French Prime Minister, Lionel Jospin; Prime Minister of The Netherlands, Wim Kok; President of the Italian Chamber of Deputies, Luciano Violante; Chairman of the Austrian National Assembly, Heinz Fischer; and President of the Belgian Senate, Armand De Decker. All these leaders expressed the commitment of their governments to chemical weapons destruction.