RECHITSA (Gomel region). May 27 (Interfax) - An anti-personnel mine destruction center opened on the premises of the 2,271st demolition munitions base in Rechitsa, Gomel region, on Tuesday, an Interfax correspondent reported from the site.
Representatives of the Belarusian Defense and Foreign Ministries, the European Commission and EXPAL, the center's builder, attended the opening ceremony.
"The center runs next-generation equipment with the daily destruction capacity of over 8,000 anti-personnel mines and the real-time monitoring of destruction processes," Belarusian Deputy Defense Minister Igor Lotenkov told the audience.
Belarus is due "to scrap over 3.357 million PFM-1 mines stored at the Armed Forces depots," he said.
The center will use the so-called "cold detonation" technique - mines will be blasted inside an armored chamber with thick walls.
Solid waste and gases will be decontaminated to landfill levels.
The center will operate six days a week, in three shifts. Belarusian workers will service the facility, which will reach the rated capacity in late July.