Scientist Mikhail Spiridonov, who returned this week from a two-week research mission to the area, said investigators found abnormally high amounts of arsenic in the water, along with 12 mysterious man-made objects, up to 10 meters (30 feet) long lying on the seabed, 300 meters down.

Arsenic results from the breaking down of blistering gases such as Lewisite.

Spiridonov said tests are being continued to discover if the rate of arsenic, up to three times the normal, indicates chemicals were dumped in the White Sea.

Experts were expected soon to send the government a report on the issue.

Russia still has a stockpile of 40,000 tons of chemical warheads. It has stated its intention to destroy 20 percent of the stockpile by 2007 and eliminate it by 2012.

But progress is slow. In the first phase of the program, specialists destroyed only 400 tons of chemical arms, or one percent of the total.

TERRA.WIRE