The U.S. plans to spend as much as $6 million to help Uzbekistan dismantle and clean up one of the former Soviet Union’s biggest chemical weapons testing labs. Only after Uzbekistan gained its independence in 1991 did Uzbek officials learn of the severe pollution that resulted from the Soviet Union’s use of the region as a production site and major testing ground for illegal chemical and biological weapons. Uzbek officials still don’t know what chemical agents were made or tested in the area, and Russia has refused to disclose any information.
