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Updated September 2008
Introduction
 Metsamor Nuclear Power Plant |
When the Soviet Union broke apart, Armenia did not have weapons of mass destruction on its territory. Neither did its Soviet-era industry manufacture any key components for weapons of mass destruction and their means of delivery. Armenia does possess some conventional weapons production capability, mostly as a result of its long-standing conflict with Muslim Azerbaijan over a primarily Armenian-populated region, Nagorno-Karabakh. In spite of its location among states considered unfriendly to Yerevan, Armenia has foregone the option of developing or acquiring weapons of mass destruction and is signatory to a number of international agreements including the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC), and the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BWC). на русском (in Russian) |
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Nuclear
There are two known nuclear research facilities in Armenia: the Yerevan Institute of Physics and the Analitsark Research Facility in Gyumri. Neither houses fissile material. Armenia has one nuclear power plant, Metsamor, which produces 30% of the nation's electricity. Under terms of a 2003 agreement with Russia, Armenia ceded management of the Metsamor to Russia's Unified Energy System. Armenia is party to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, has an Additional Protocol with the IAEA, and has ratified the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT). In April 2007, Yerevan signed an agreement with Russia's Federal Agency on Atomic Energy calling for joint extraction and processing of uranium ores in Armenia.
Biological
Armenia acceded to the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention on 7 June 1994. There is no evidence to suggest that Armenia possesses or is pursuing biological weapons. During the Soviet era, the Armenian Center for Prophylaxis of Especially Dangerous Diseases (formerly known as the Armenian Anti-plague Station) was part of the so-called Soviet anti-plague system, the primary objective of which was to control endemic diseases and prevent the importation of exotic pathogens that could threaten crops, animals, and humans. In the late 1960s, however, the system also was tasked with defending the USSR against biological attacks.
Chemical
On 15 May 1992, Armenia signed the Tashkent Agreement between the Commonwealth of Independent States, according to which Russia was acknowledged as the successor of Soviet chemical weapons. In signing the agreement, Armenia agreed to abide by the 1925 Geneva Protocol, abide by the Soviet moratarium of 1987 on the production of chemical weapons, coordinate its policy with a view to achieving the speedy conclusion of a multilateral and verifiable convention on the prohibition of chemical weapons, and coordinate its policy with regard to controlling the export of dual-use chemicals. Armenia is a member of the Chemical Weapons Convention and a founding member of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW).
Missile
Armenia does not possess ballistic missiles nor does it produce any key elements for missile systems.
This
material is produced independently for NTI by the James Martin Center for
Nonproliferation Studies at the Monterey Institute of International Studies and
does not necessarily reflect the opinions of and has not been independently
verified by NTI or its directors, officers, employees, agents. Copyright © 2008
by MIIS.
