German equipment arrives in Moldova to scrap Russian munitions

The Chisinau OSCE mission has announced that German equipment has been delivered to Moldova to scrap Russian munitions kept in weapons dumps at Russian military bases stationed in the Trans-Dniester region. The area has a majority Russian-speaking population and has unilaterally declared independence from the capital.

The munitions will be scrapped near the settlement of Kolbasnaya, near the dumps. About 60% of the munitions (26,000 tonnes) will be destroyed there, while the rest will be brought to Russia.

Russia committed itself to pulling its troops and armaments out of the region before the end of 2002 at the Istanbul OSCE summit. An OSCE voluntary fund was set up to help this process. Nine donor countries have already contributed 7 million euros.