The Belarusian Defense Ministry has invited observers from several countries to the Zapad 2017 (West 2017) joint Belarusian-Russian military exercise.
“Observers from seven countries, namely Ukraine, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Sweden, and Norway, have been invited to this event,” the Belarusian Defense Ministry said in a statement.
These countries have been invited as part of the 2011 Vienna Document of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) on Confidence and Security-Building Measures and also bilateral agreements on additional confidence and security-building measures, it said.
Officials of military-diplomatic missions accredited by the Belarusian Defense Ministry and also representatives of international organizations such as the United Nations, the OSCE, NATO, the Collective Security Treaty Organization, the CIS, and the International Committee of the Red Cross have also been invited to monitor the drills, it said.
“Observation of the exercise is being organized in strict compliance with national legislation and international treaties in order to provide the public with full, reliable and up-to-date information about the Zapad 2017 drills,” the ministry said.
The Zapad 2017 Russian-Belarusian strategic exercise will take place from September 14 to September 20 and is expected to involve around 13,000 people. These drills are a routine and biennial event.
