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WASHINGTON - Even as Israel attempted to
pressure Russia not to sell S-300 missile systems to Iran, a part of
Russia's own missile arsenal stood open and unguarded in a forest near
Moscow, Russian bloggers discovered recently.

A report containing scores of pictures
appeared earlier this month on the popular blogging platform
Livejournal.com, showing a completely abandoned missile base. The
pictures were accompanied by amusing captions, which recounted how easy
it was for a mushroom-picker walking in the forest to enter through the
rusting gates and take pictures of the missiles and radar systems - some
in storage, some resting on their launch pads.

Images on a Russian blog purportedly showing the missiles.

"Maybe
it's a museum?" a mushroom-picker wonders in one of the captions.
"There's no one around - just come and take what you like ... What a
strange museum - all the exhibits are working and the systems are all
buzzing." No soldiers could be seen in any of the photographs.

Within a week, the pictures were reproduced
on dozens of websites, drawing considerable coverage. An officer told
the Russian tabloid Komsomolskaya Pravda that each site used to be
guarded by an entire battalion, but ongoing cutbacks resulted in sites
being guarded by the same sold... >>>