1.   A plan to begin operating the first of three destruction plants, scaled back from seven, will be presented to President Vladimir Putin for approval next month.

2.   Raytheon already runs a chemical weapons destruction plant for the Army on the Johnston Atoll in the Pacific Ocean.

3.   A third destruction plant is expected to be built in Kambarka, northeast of Gorny.

4.   Russia has consistently opposed military attacks on Iraq aimed at making Saddam comply with U.N. inspections of weapons of mass destruction plants.

5.   The new program is expected to cut costs by up to half, in part by scaling down the original plan for seven destruction plants to three.

6.   A new chemical weapons destruction plant was set to open at Tooele, Utah in the next few months.

7.   Construction began Monday on a nuclear missile destruction plant in Ukraine partially funded by the United States under the START nuclear arms reduction treaty, the Defense Department said.