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.