
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, April 9, 1994                   TAG: 9404110172
SECTION: NATL/INTL                    PAGE: A-8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Short

U.S. WORRIED ABOUT BIOLOGICAL WEAPONS

Russia continued a massive biological weapons program after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, and despite assurances from President Boris Yeltsin the United States is not sure whether it is still going on, the State Department said Friday.

Development, production and possession of toxin and biological agents for offensive military purposes is barred by an international treaty negotiated in 1972 and signed by Washington and Moscow.

The program continued in violation of the 1972 accord at least through March 1992, four months after the Soviet Union's collapse, spokesman Michael McCurry said.

That April, Yeltsin issued a decree that prohibited further illegal activities, and in September 1992 the United States, Britain and Russia confirmed the commitment.

Even so, McCurry said, the Clinton administration is not certain the program has been shut down.

``The status of the program since that time, frankly, remains a little unclear,'' he said.

Yeltsin has dismissed Anatoly Kuntsevich as director of his committee on problems of chemical and biological disarmament. Yeltsin's office issued a statement Thursday that said Kuntsevich had been fired for ``gross violation of his duties.''

by CNB