( OSCE ) - Thousands of obsolete TNT-filled shells will be recycled with the help of special equipment delivered today to the Dedoplitskaro military base in eastern Georgia under an OSCE programme.
The equipment was supplied by Ukraine's Ukronboronservice as part of a project by the OSCE Mission to Georgia funded by the Finnish Government. It will be used by dismantling experts from the government-appointed.
"The new equipment will help recycle TNT-filled warheads instead of blowing them up as it was done in the past," said Ambassador Roy Reeve, the Head of the OSCE Mission.
"Fifty thousand old but potentially dangerous shells abandoned on former Russian bases have already been dismantled over the last three years. We are pleased to continue assisting the Defence Ministry in neutralizing this environmental threat."
The Defence Ministry's base in Dedoplitskaro has been renovated with the help of the OSCE under the Mission's obsolete weapons recycling programme.
The previous stages of the programme were funded by Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, Turkey and the UK.
The OSCE Mission has also carried out soil decontamination work around the base in Akhalkalaki. Other possible projects are being discussed with Georgian authorities.