Belarus: Representatives of 7 countries will be present at Zapad-2017 military exercise
Belarus invited representatives of seven countries and six international organizations to the Belarusian-Russian military exercise Zapad 2017 in the fall of 2017, as reported by the Ministry of Defense of Belarus on its website.
The report emphasizes that "monitoring of the exercise has been organized in strict accordance with national legislation and international treaties."
"Building on the practice of good-neighborliness and reciprocity, within the framework of the OSCE Vienna Document from 2011 ‘On Confidence and Security Building Measures’ observers from seven countries, Ukraine, Poland, Lithuania, Estonia, Sweden, and Norway were invited to the event," the Ministry of Defense of Belarus informs.
It was also noted that "representatives of the military-diplomatic corps accredited by the Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Belarus, as well as representatives of international organizations such as the UN, OSCE, NATO, CSTO, CIS, and ICRC were also invited to observe the exercises."
"In addition, the exercise will be covered by representatives of the media from dozens of countries," the report says.
Previously it was reported that the United States will increase its military presence in Lithuania during the Zapad 2017 Russian-Belarusian military exercise.
Ukraine fears that after the exercise Russia would leave some of its troops in Belarus.