The Basque separatist group ETA has given the French police a list of 12 arms caches in southwestern France under its unilateral initiative to disarm, informed sources told AFP on Saturday.

The caches are located in the departments, or counties, of the Gers, Pyrénées-Atlantiques and Hautes-Pyrénées, they said. The French interior ministry said that the so-called “Disarmament Day” was “incontestably important” and a “major step”.

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Basque separatist group ETA has said it will fully disarm on 8 April, the BBC has reported, citing a letter from the organisation.

The moves comes after the Basque parliament asked ETA to disarm as soon as possible.

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Russia blamed terrorists for an explosion on Monday that killed at least 10 people in a subway train in St. Petersburg, the country’s second-largest city and the hometown of President Vladimir Putin, who was visiting at the time.

There was no indication that Putin, who was in St. Petersburg for talks with Belarusian President Alexander G. Lukashenko, was anywhere near the underground blast, which injured at least 47 people in addition to the dead.

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Basque civil society groups will fully disarm the separatist group ETA by April 8, a French environmental activist with ties to the Basque community promised Friday.

The militants announced a permanent cease-fire in 2011, but the governments of Spain and France have so far refused to take part in its disarmament because ETA tied it to the future of its militants, both in and out of jail. The two countries have demanded that ETA lay down its weapons without conditions and disband.

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Six Russian troops died in the early hours of Friday when a group of insurgents attacked their base in Chechnya, with six rebels killed in the resulting shootout, the National Guard said.

Russia’s National Guard, established last year, is a new branch of internal troops aimed at defending borders and countering extremism.

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