The Russian inspectors were able to visit military units and training areas in a territory of Lithuania of up to 20 thousand square kilometres in size, as well as receive a briefing from the commander of the inspected unit, Mechanised Infantry Brigade Iron Wolf.
The Russian arms control inspectors also were provided with fly over a chosen territory of Lithuania in an aircraft provided by the Lithuanian Air Force as laid out in the Vienna Document 2011 to ascertain that no undeclared military activities are conducted.
According to regulations of the Vienna Document 2011, the arms control experts of Russia will report to the members of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe on the compliance with provisions of international treaties concerning arms control witnessed during the inspection in Lithuania.
It is the third verification visit under the Vienna Document 2011 by a foreign country to Lithuania’s military units this year. In June it was a group of Russian and Belarusian arms control inspectors, and in July – arms control inspectors of Ukraine.
In August Belarus’s arms control inspectors carried out a visit under the Vienna Document 2011 in Lithuania on the basis of the Bilateral Agreement of Lithuania and Belarus on Additional Confidence and Security-Building Measures.
Lithuania’s arms control inspectors have completed verification visits to Russian, Belarusian and Ukrainian military units this year.
The Vienna Document 2011 commits the signatory countries to conduct annual 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. 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 to verify there are no undeclared military capabilities or large-scale military activities requiring prior notification.
