NATO Allies host Russian arms control inspectors
Today (13 March 2018), Estonia hosted Russian arms control inspectors, demonstrating Allies’ ongoing commitment to transparency. The inspectors visited the Estonian Defence Forces 1st Infantry Brigade at Tapa military base, where NATO’s multinational battlegroup is based.
Together with the three other battlegroups in Latvia, Lithuania and Poland, these forces form part of the biggest reinforcement to NATO’s collective deterrence and defence in a generation.
Last week, Russian inspectors also visited the Latvian Mechanised Infantry Brigade in Camp Ādaži, where NATO troops are also based.
All of these visits are being carried out within the framework of the Vienna Document, an agreement on military transparency reached among the 57 member nations of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) in 2011. Designed to promote mutual trust and transparency, the Vienna Document commits OSCE members to accept a number of inspection visits by other members each year, in order to verify there are no undeclared military capabilities or activities of concern.
NATO strongly supports efforts to build confidence and transparency on military activities. Allies respect the letter and spirit of the Vienna Document, and NATO regularly updates its schedule of military exercises online.