Train with Russian military hardware heads for Russia from Transdniestria

A train with Russian military hardware and ammunition headed for Russia from the Transdniestrian village of Kobasna on Friday.

RIA Novosti was informed in the Staff of the Russian Troops' Operations Group (OGRV) headquartered in Transdniestria, that the 24-car train was carrying surface-to-surface and Uragan missile installations, as well as a number of 152-mm shells.

The Staff specified that the ammo contained many blank rounds, required for the combat training of the Russian Army.

The dispatch of a fourth hardware and ammo train was possible thanks to the agreements reached on September 26 between a Russian Defense Ministry delegation, headed by deputy minister Vladimir Isakov, and Transdniestrian leader Igor Smirnov (Transdniestria is a self-proclaimed republic making part of Moldova). The volumes of the dispatched military property of Russia were agreed upon then. They amounted to 16,000 tons of ammunition and military hardware units.

According to the ORGV Staff, the Russian military are ready to remove from the region a trainload every three days. Thus, they believe, they would keep within the terms determined for this at the OSCE Istanbul summit.