The Council of Europe says Britain and the US should disclose the location of chemical munitions seized from Nazi Germany.

The weapons were seized at the end of World War II and dumped in the Baltic Sea, the council said on Friday. The human rights watchdog went on to add that the exact location of the dumps which has so far been a military secret should be made public.

The precise location needs to be revealed in order to ensure that environmental risks connected with a planned underwater gas pipeline between Russia and Germany can be properly calculated. The pipeline will run along the Baltic seabed and will be built by the Nord Stream consortium in which Russia's Gazprom holds major shares, Reuters reported.

A report presented to the Council of Europe assembly cited that the Allies seized 300,000 tons of chemical munitions from Germany at the end of the war and dumped them in the Baltic Sea, in some cases in waters only a few dozen meters deep.

The report adds that the military secret was supposed to be revealed after 50 years but Britain and the US, which had taken possession of most of the stocks, decided back in 1997 to keep the details secret for another 20 years.

SM/HAR