Lithuanian-led multinational arms control team to visit Serbia

On April 24-25 military inspectors of the Lithuanian Armed Forces and invited inspectors from the Netherlands and Estonia will carry out an inspection in a chosen area in Serbia according to regulations of the Vienna Document 2011.

The Lithuanian-led multinational arms control inspection team will look into the military activities in a chosen area in Serbia’s northern part.

According to regulations of the Vienna Document 2011, the arms control experts will be able to get answers on the number of personnel serving in the units deployed in the area chosen for the inspection, types and numbers of major weaponry and equipment systems.

During the inspection in training areas and ranges military inspectors will be able to view the activities of the inspected units, see examples of major weaponry and equipment systems.

Representatives of the Lithuanian Armed Forces and their colleagues from the Netherlands and Estonia and will report to the members of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe on the compliance with provisions of the Vienna Document 2011 witnessed during the inspection in Serbia.

This year arms control inspectors of the Lithuanian Armed Forces took part in an inspection of a chosen area in Belarus and a verification visit to Russia.

The Vienna Document 2011 commits the signatory countries to conduct annual information exchange on their manpower, planned capability development and defence budgets on an annual basis, and to notify other Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) countries in advance of scheduled military activities. The states also commit to accept a designated number of inspections and evaluation visits by other member states’ military inspectors in military units in their territories to verify there are no undeclared military capabilities or large-scale military activities requiring prior notification.

Each OSCE member has a right to verify if any other member does not conduct military activities requiring advance notification or does not have undeclared military capabilities, on the basis of regulations of the Vienna Document 2011.