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At Kolbasna, military stockpiles are being loaded onto a train to leave the country under OSCE supervision (File photo: OSCE)

KOLBASNA (Tiraspol Times) - What will happen to Kolbasna? The Kolbasna base was once one of the largest arsenals in Europe. Today, with most of the weapons gone and the rest of them old and rusting, it looks unimportant and could be mistaken for a walled-in collective farm. Stuck in a far corner of northern Pridnestrovie, rarely a sound can be heard on base except from the odd cock or goose.

In February, during an informal session of the Russian-NATO Council in the southern Spanish city of Seville, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov said that Russia will not abandon the remains of its arms depots in Pridnestrovie.

But the majority of the ammunition has already been removed from Kolbasna under OSCE supervision. Military equipment which was unpractical to remove has undergone on-site destruction as per Moldovan demands that the "weapons dump of Transnistria" be removed. The U.S. State Department recognizes that the process of removal of Russian munitions and equipment has been carried out with efficiency since 2003.

Majority dismantled, removed

Today, only around 20,000 tons of old military equipment and expired ammunition are left here. Previously, in the first half of 2005, for instance, a total of 48 trains of Russian munitions and military equipment left Pridnestrovie under OSCE supervision. The remaining weapons are long past their sell-by date, but nevertheless wellguarded to make sure that they don't fall into the wrong hands.

Russian soldiers cut and remove long grass to keep the base tidy and reduce the fire risk. They grow cucumbers, tomatoes and apples in neat gardens dotted around the expanse. Children sit alongside officers on duty at checkpoints and a yellow school bus is often seen wending its way through the well-kept lanes.

" - It's so quiet here. On your second night, you are woken by the silence," said Andrei Terentyev, a deputy commander, surveying the base.

The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, OSCE, has carried out on-site inspections and assures that security is tight. A visit by top European Ambassadors in late 2006 confirmed that there is no risk of unauthorized sales of any of the aging weaponry still left in Kolbasna.

Kolbasna is at a cross-roads. Eventually, the stockpile will be removed: But Pridnestrovie sees their presence, and the Russian troops who guard them, as preferable to the alternative. There is nothing dangerous about the warehouses. And Russia, the owner, will not be dictated to about a matter which has no serious bearing whatsoever on the security of Europe.

Moldovan peacekeeping mandate

Today, a diminished number of Russian troops remain to guard the depots and to carry out peacekeeping functions in accordance with a mandate signed by the President of Moldova in 1992.

In 1992, Moldovan troops crossed into the territory which Pridnestrovie had declared independent in 1990. What was seen by Moldova as a way to impose its sovereignty was viewed by Pridnestrovie as an invasion. In the war that followed, more than a thousand people died. Most of the victims fell on side of the separatists. Russia stepped in to separate the sides and now forms part of a multinational peacekeeping contingent which patrols a bufferzone on the Dniester River.

Moldova is carrying on an "economic war" against the left bank of the Dniester, keeping the situation tense and the need for peacekeepers to stay in the region to carry out their mandate according to the cease-fire which Moldova has signed.

" - The peacekeepers should stay. There is no point sending more peacekeepers here. For what? To destabilize the situation?" the man in charge, Boris Sergeyev, asked. There is general consensus that the current peacekeepers are doing a great job, and the results bear this out: For a full fifteen years, the cease-fire has held and not a single soldier or civilian has lost their lives. (With information from wires)

See also:
» Transdniester opens its doors to OSCE team for weapons inspection [1]
» UN Report clears Transdniester of weapons smuggling; Praises transparency and co-operation [2]
» Survey confirms no unauthorized sales of stored arms from Transdniester [3]
» Confidence-building visit: OSCE delegation inspects Kolbasna military depots [4]
» International weapons inspection refutes dangers, finds no risks of unauthorized sales [5]