Russia requested Japan's support Monday for its plan to seek a five-year extension to 2012 of the deadline for eliminating chemical weapons under a global treaty, Foreign Ministry officials said.

Visiting former Russian Prime Minister Sergei Kiriyenko explained the plan and made the request to Foreign Minister Makiko Tanaka, the officials said.

Kiriyenko said the plan to extend the deadline under the Chemical Weapons Convention is a result of a Russian government review of its program to destroy chemical weapons after the task was transferred from the Defense Ministry to a nonmilitary organ, the officials said.

Tanaka did not say whether Japan will support the plan and asked Kiriyenko to give further details to Yuji Miyamoto, director general for arms control and scientific affairs at the Foreign Ministry, whom Kiriyenko was to meet later Monday, according to the officials.

The extension would be possible if signatory states approve it at a conference of the state parties, based on recommendations of the executive council of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.

Russia, the holder of the world's largest chemical weapons stockpile, estimated at 40,000 tons, plans to request that the deadline be extended from 2007 to 2012 at a session of the OPCW executive council scheduled to open Sept. 25 in The Hague, giving as a reason its financial difficulties.

Kiriyenko explained that 18 countries are currently assisting Russia to get rid of its chemical weapons and asked for Japan's support in the area. Tanaka said Japan wants to think about what it can do, but she added that the domestic fiscal situation is severe, the officials said.

According to the officials, Kiriyenko said Russia is ready to provide technical cooperation to Japan to help it dispose of chemical shells it abandoned in China at the end the 1937-1945 Sino-Japanese War.

Japan estimates 700,000 chemical shells are left in China. The Chinese government puts the figure at 2 million.

Kiriyenko is also planning to explain to other Group of Eight countries about Russia's intention to seek an extension of the deadline, the officials said.

Japan is the first stop on Kiriyenko's tour that will take him to Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy and the United States, the officials said. He has been in Japan since Aug. 24.

On bilateral ties, Tanaka told Kiriyenko that Japan wants the relationship between the two countries to develop in a stable manner and asked him to relay the message to President Vladimir Putin, the officials said.

Kiriyenko said Putin also places emphasis on ties with Japan and that Russia is also hoping to make efforts to build a constructive and mutually beneficial relationship, according to the officials.