Within the next six months Belarus will have to destroy around 300,000 TNT-based antipersonnel mines. The operations will be carried out jointly by the Belarusian Defense Ministry and the NATO Maintenance and Supply Agency on the basis of the contract which was signed in February 2006. The Lithuanian and Canadian governments also donated money for the project.
The mines would be destroyed at a remote site in the Gomel Region, with ecological impact taken care of. Required funds have already been allocated.
An inspection of the mine-stock facilities that store around 200,000 mines not subject to the Ottawa Convention, in particular, remote control mines, is to be carried out in the period. The inspection mission will visit seven army storage facilities. On March 1, 2005 an examination of the depot at the 120th guards mechanized brigade started in the Minsk Region.
Belarus also plans to start destroying most dangerous liquid explosive mines PFM-1 in 2006 under a project funded by the European Commission.
In line with the Ottawa Convention Belarus has to destroy around 4 million antipersonnel mines left behind after the disintegration of the Soviet Union by March 1, 2008.
Getting Rid of Dangerous Heritage
Belarus is to eliminate about 300,000 TNT antipersonnel mines within next six months
