Arms Control Issues

From 12–13 February, at the premises of the International Military Cooperation Department of the Belarusian Defence Ministry, an educational and methodological training was hold with the officers of the Armed Forces responsible for the implementation of the international treaties of the Republic of Belarus in the field of arms control.

At the opening of the meeting, Chief of the International Military Cooperation Department, Assistant to the Defence Minister for Foreign Military Policy Maj. Gen. Oleg Voinov summed up providing foreign inspection activities of Belarus in 2019 and specified the tasks for 2020. He noted that last year verification measures were applied to Belarus in the framework of eight international arms control treaties: the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe, the Vienna Document 2011 on Confidence- and Security-Building Measures, the Convention on the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, the Open Skies Treaty and bilateral regional arrangements for additional confidence and security measures with Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Ukraine. In total, in 2019, 26 foreign inspection teams and observation missions were accepted on the territory of the Republic of Belarus, which confirmed the full compliance by the Belarusian side with its international obligations.

In the course of the meeting, participants were acquainted with the main provisions of the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe, the Vienna Document 2011 on Confidence- and Security-Building Measures, as well as other international treaties in the field of strengthening regional security. Requirements for the preparation of verification objects and military units, the rights and duties of escort groups were brought to the participants’ notice.