Police have seized 50 kilograms of gunpowder from a villager in the Bashkiria republic who said he came across the explosives after a fire at a local weapons depot.
A police representative told Interfax that the 56-year-old man had stored the gunpowder and five artillery shells in a shack in his garden in the village of Urman since a fire broke out at an army weapons depot near his home last year.
"The man had planned to take the metal from the shells to a metal refinery but keep the gunpowder for firing up his banya," the representative said.
The confiscated munitions have been sent for tests, after which a decision will be taken on what to do with them, the news agency said.
The fire at the weapons depot took place in May 2011 just 500 meters from the village of Urman. Three streets were burned to the ground and 116 villagers left without shelter as a result of the fire.
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