MOSCOW. Nov 17 (Interfax-AVN) - The Russian Defense Ministry will have to dispose of some seven million tonnes of ammunition items, which can be done only by blowing them up due to their large quantity, Armed Forces General Staff Chief Nikolai Makarov said.
"We need to dispose of nearly seven million tonnes. Less than 1% of them will be disposed of by the industry. That is why we are forced to blow them up. We simply have no other choice," Makarov said at a Russian Public Chamber session.
"We are sitting on a powder keg, including cities where ammunition depots are located," he said.
Of the seven million tonnes of ammunition stored at the Defense Ministry's depots, 6.1 million tonnes is redundant, he said.
"Naturally, they explode from time to time," Makarov said.
Only specially trained units of sappers are permitted to conduct ammunition disposal operations in order to avoid tragic accidents.
"Untrained people are not allowed to handle ammunition," he said.
Only 2% of the Defense Ministry's ammunition stockpiles have a long range, and all of the remaining ammunition items have a short range, he said.