On February 11 through 15 three arms control specialists of the Arms Control Division of the Lithuanian Armed Forces and a counterpart from Denmark will conduct a verification visit in the units of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Lithuanian arms control inspectors will also visit several units of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation stationed in the inspection region.
The inspection will be conducted on the legal basis of the Vienna Document of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). The Document stipulates that an OSCE member holds a right to verify if another member of the organisation does not undertake illicit military activities requiring prior notification or does not possess undeclared military capabilities.
The Vienna Document binds parties to the agreement to render information on a an annual basis about their national military capabilities, defence capability development plans and defence budget, as well as to inform in advance about the military activities planned to take place. Member states also commit to accepting a specified number of inspections and visits by arms control experts of other member states in the military units in their territories.
Arms control experts of the Lithuanian Armed Forces will be able to obtain valuable information on the reform of the Ukrainian and Russian military units in the inspection region, the modernisation of weaponry used in the units, and to assess the changes implemented. It will be the second inspection by Lithuanian military inspectors conducted on the basis of the updated Vienna Document in 2013. One Lithuanian representative has taken part in a verification visit in the Kaliningrad Oblast (Russian Federation) with a German military inspectors' group this year.
POC: PAO for the Secretariat of the Joint Headquarters of the Lithuanian Armed Forces Capt Marius Varna, cell phone no. +370 686 35 407
Photo from the archive of the Arms Control Division of the Lithuanian Armed Forces
