Russian ammunition must be removed from Kolbasna in any way – Defense Minister

The Russian ammunition and other military equipment must be evacuated from the Kolbasna military depots [in Transnistria] in any circumstances, maintains Moldovan Minister of Defense Vitalie Marinuta.     

The general stated to Infotag that Transnistria is an inseparable part of an internationally recognized state – the Republic of Moldova.   

“We have many a time presented our position on the ammunition, whose presence is extremely dangerous as such. Besides this, Russia began removing its military property a few years ago, and is now saying it intends to resume the ammunition withdrawal some day. This problem is soluble – only political will is needed for this”, said the Moldovan defense minister confidently.

In his words, Chisinau will be further making diplomatic and political efforts within the OSCE frame to ensure an efficient international control of the storage and evacuation of the foreign military equipment from the Republic of Moldova territory.    

Infotag’s dossier:   The Kolbasna depot of arms, ammunition and other military equipment was built in the Transnistrian village in the late 1980s, when the Soviet Union started evacuating its troops and arsenals from Eastern Europe. According to various estimates, presently there is approximately 20,000 tons of ammunition remaining in Kolbasna. The huge arsenal is guarded by the Russian military (up to 3 battalions), plus Transnistrian military units on constant guard around the depot. Russia started evacuating its military property energetically in the early 2000s, and had managed to remove nearly a half of the stocks – about 20 thousand tons of ammunition and heavy equipment, when the work was suspended under the pretext that the authorities of the unrecognized Transnistrian republic allegedly did not permit that.   

Adapted from infotag.md