Another about 20,000 tonnes of Soviet munitions left by the 14th Army in Transnistria should be removed. Contacted by IPN, political-military adviser of the OSCE Mission to Moldova Maurice Dunand said the storage sites are under the control and responsibility of the armed forces of Russia and the Transnistria authorities.

“According to the authorities, the munitions are stored in inappropriate conditions. However, the OSCE hasn’t had access to the storage sites since 2006. Thus, we cannot exclude that these old munitions pose a threat to the population living in the area, especially in Colbasna, where the depot is situated in the immediate vicinity of the village,” said Maurice Dunand.

He also said that according to the authorities, the munitions are guarded by military forces and the individuals do not have access to them. As the OSCE does not have access to the area, it can determine neither the volume of munitions nor the safety conditions.

In the Istanbul Summit of 1999, Russia agreed to pull out its troops and munitions from the Transnistrian region. At the start of 2000, the withdrawal was resumed under the monitoring of the OSCE. But, in 2004 the process was suspended by Russia. The last train loaded with munitions left Colbasna on March 25, 2004.

Russia pulled out about 20,000 tonnes of munitions under the monitoring of the OSCE. Assumingly, there are another about 20,000 tonnes of munitions in the region. “As far as we know, no other withdrawals or destructions took place. After 2006, the OSCE didn’t have access to the depots to determine the quantities or safety conditions,” said the political-military adviser of the OSCE Mission to Moldova.

Asked how much the removal and destruction of the remaining munitions will cost, Maurice Dunand said that no accurate calculations were done, but the OSCE member states are ready to support these operations both technically and financially.