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.

Open gallery view Images on a Russian blog purportedly showing the missiles. Credit: Livejournal.com

"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 soldiers that operate the missiles' launching devices. He said the base has some guard dogs, but the soldiers don't have firearms and the officers only have handguns.

Speaking to the Russian media, Russian defense officials doubted that whoever took the photographs was indeed an innocent passerby.

The Russian military said the pictures were taken in three different missile bases, speculating that the photographer was a soldier on active duty or recently discharged, with intimate knowledge of the localities.

They mocked the notion that a terrorist could have launched a missile, noting this was much more complicated than pushing a button. "No one yet has managed to blow up or take apart a missile. You can wreck it, but certainly not use it for terrorism," one general told Komsomolskaya Pravda.

The military said that patrols have been increased "threefold" since the internet reports, and fences and other obstacles have been reinforced. Komsomolskaya Pravda reporters found that at least one of the bases in the original report has been sealed off by increased army presence.