Russia can not evacuate troops from Transnistria – Russia minister

Russia can not evacuate its troops from Transnistria, Russian Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov told a news conference in Seville, Spain, where he participated in the Russia-NATO Council meeting. According to the Russian official, quoted by RIA-Novosti, the 1500 Russian militaries stationing in Moldova have 2 tasks, the first of which is the role of peacekeepers. Besides this, there are Soviet-era depots with munitions and armament that must be guarded. During the NATO Political Committee meeting in 26+1 format (Moldova), which took place in late October 2006, the representatives of NATO member countries said that the settlement of the Transnistrian conflict is seriously hindered, given that Russia did not fulfill its commitments on the withdrawal of troops and munitions from the territory of Moldova made at the Istanbul OSCE summit.