At the invitation of Belarus, two officers of the Lithuanian Armed Forces and a representatives of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) are observing practical force action phase of the strategic Belarusian-Russian Exercise Zapad 2021 in one of the training areas in Brest on September 15–17.
The visit takes place under the regulations of the Security and Confidence-building Measures of the OSCE Vienna Document 2011. The document commits the signatory countries to conduct information exchange on their manpower, planned capability development and defence budgets on an annual basis, and to notify other Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) countries in advance of scheduled military activities of significant scope. The states also commit to accept a designated number of inspections and evaluation visits by other member states’ military inspectors in military units in their territories and are able to volunteer to invite observers to exercises below the obligatory scope according to the Vienna Document.
In its turn, Lithuania demonstrates openness and seeks to promote transparency and confidence among regional neighbors by voluntarily inviting military observers from Russia, Belarus, Finland And Sweden to major military exercises annually since 2018. In May earlier this year representatives of Belarus, Russia, Finland and Sweden observed Lithuanian Armed Forces Exercise Iron Wolf 2021 at Gaižiūnai training Area at the invitation of Lithuania.
