MOSCOW, August 13 (AVN) - Specialists of the repairing and restoration battalion of the Russian troops group in the Trans-Dniestr region have scrapped eight T-64 tanks and 10 BTR-60 APCs this month, a spokesman for the Moscow military district headquarters said on Monday.
The scrapping takes place in accordance with the Istanbul agreements on the withdrawal of Russian troops, ammo, materiel and military equipment of the 14th general army, the spokesman told the Military News Agency. In accordance with the plan approved by Colonel General Alexei Moskovsky, chief of the Armed Forces armament and deputy defence minister, a total of 44 pieces of combat equipment including 30 T-64 tanks will be destroyed in August.
The scrapping is coordinated with local authorities. Colonel General Vladimir Isakov, deputy defence minister and chief of the Armed Forces rear, President of the Trans-Dniestr Republic Igor Smirnov and Osvald Schneidratus, deputy head of the OSCE mission in Moldova, signed a protocol on renewal of joint work on troops withdrawal in Tiraspol in June.
According to the spokesman, officials of the Trans-Dniestr government stopped attending sessions of the joint commission about a month ago. Moreover, the republic's authorities refuse to take 50 percent of metal waste which is to be supplied to them after the scrapping.