Dogs of War: Here’s Why the Ukraine Conflict Could Be About to Spread to Another European Country

• Dogs of War: Here’s Why the Ukraine Conflict Could Be About to Spread to Another European Country
  by https://www.rt.com/
  What lies behind concerns in Moldova, and the breakaway region of Transnistria?
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  For the past several weeks, Eastern Europe has been on the verge of a new war. Moldova risks returning to active conflict with the self-proclaimed republic of Transnistria – a separatist region, with a slavic majority, which broke away from Chisinau during the collapse of the USSR.
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  Ukraine has a special interest in the territory, because launching a military action there could be doubly beneficial for Kiev. It would embarrass Moscow, which only has 1,500 peacekeepers stationed and no way to currently reinforce them, and would also allow Kiev potential access to a huge arms dump. The facility at Kolbasna – with a reported 22,000 tons of weaponry – is one of the largest in Europe, and it’s located only 2km from the Ukrainian border.
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  During Soviet times, the strategic reserves of the Western Military District were stored here. However, most of the ammunition was brought to the warehouse after the withdrawal of Soviet troops from the countries of the former Warsaw Pact – such as East Germany, Czechoslovakia and Hungary.
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  The warehouse contains artillery shells and air bombs, mines of various calibers, grenades, and cartridges. Presumably almost half of this arsenal has already exhausted its shelf life. In addition, there is a large amount of old equipment in the Kolbasna warehouse including about 100 tanks, 200 armored personnel carriers, infantry fighting vehicles, more than 30,000 military vehicles, about 200 anti-aircraft missile systems, Grad multiple launch rocket systems, and 30,000 machine guns.
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  The ammunition stored in Kolbasna would be enough to equip a modern army group. However, it’s likely that the peacekeepers have mined the facility. In such a case, there is a danger that any Ukrainian assault could trigger huge explosions, causing ecological damage. Will the heightened tensions evolve into another armed conflict in the former Soviet space?
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