The Soviet-era depots are guarded by a 1,500-strong Russian peacekeeper contingent, whose withdrawal is envisaged by the Conventional Forces in Europe Treaty, an arms control agreement signed in 1990 by the 22 members of NATO and the former Warsaw Pact. An adapted version of the CFE was signed in 1999.
"Besides their being part of Russia's military supplies, there is also the matter of where the explosives, the grenade launchers and so forth, may end up, and in whose hands," Ivanov said on Friday at an informal session of the Russian-NATO Council in the southern Spanish city of Seville.
The withdrawal of Russia's military bases from ex-Soviet republics, notably Georgia and Moldova, is a contentious issue with NATO, which has refused to ratify the adapted CFE until Russia completes its pullout.
