MILITARY/NATO/RUSSIA: “Russia is preventing proper international observation of large military exercises near the Polish border next month, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said Friday, echoing European governments’ growing apprehension over troops massing on the tense geopolitical fault line.
Russia will send troops to Belarus, next to Poland, next month as part of an every-few-years exercise called Zapad, or West. North Atlantic Treaty Organization officials said Russia is only allowing two NATO observers limited access, in what the officials said was a violation of an international agreement.
The agreement, the Vienna Document, is supposed to allow both sides to observe each other’s military exercises, including interviewing soldiers and conducting flyovers.
NATO typically invites Russian observers to spend weeks watching its exercises—a trust-building mechanism, its officials say. For Zapad, Russia has invited the observers for one so-called visitors’ day, and Belarus is allowing five visitors’ days, in which movements are restricted.
Russia didn’t immediately respond to Mr. Stoltenberg’s statement Friday. Russia and Belarus have said the exercise will involve 12,700 troops, which would put the drills under the threshold to invite international observers set by the Vienna Document.
Russia often stages smaller, linked exercises at the same time, and gives them distinct names. U.S. officials have said they believe 70,000 or more troops will be involved in total—above the Vienna threshold. The officials said the exercise could be one of the largest Moscow has conducted in recent years.”
-Drew Hinshaw and Julian E. Barnes, “NATO Slams Russia for Limiting Access to Military Drills,” The Wall Street Journal online, Aug. 25, 2017 01:30pm