The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation said Saturday it would help finance a 25-million euro (32.7-million dollar) programme in Ukraine to eliminate more than 1.5 million Soviet-era light arms along with 133,000 tons of munitions. It described the 12-year project as the largest such disarmament effort in the world. "Much of this material is stored in the open, posing a major security threat to local civilian population and infrastructure," the alliance said.

"Safe destruction of these stocks also eliminates potential proliferation risks."

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2005