Belarus should not have invited some people to monitor Zapad-2017 war game – MoD
Belarus invited a ‘necessary number of observers, representatives of mass media and international organizations’ to monitor the Zapad-2017 drills, Defense Minister Andrey Raukou believes.
The Belarusian side invited even those persons ‘who should not have been invited’, he told the state-run TV station Belarus 1.
“We’ve recently seen an increase in the number of analysts focusing on military affairs, including in Belarus. Most of them did not even serve in the army. I would like to leave their outbursts and expressions without comments,” news agency quoted Raukou as saying.
As reported earlier, the Belarusian Defense Ministry did not let a public commission to monitor the Zapad-2017 war game.
As reported earlier, the initiative to establish such a commission was put forward by Andrey Dzmitryeu, a co-chair of the campaign “Tell the Truth”. Its aim is to make sure that the doctrine of the military exercise is merely very defensive and Belarus’ independence is not threatened.
There were seven people on the list of the would-be commission members: politicians and military experts, including analyst Alyaksandr Alesin.
“General Aleh Belakoneu took it as the desire to control him. We have no doubt of his military talents and skills. But public opinion would be important for the citizens of Western countries, for our neighbors,” Alesin told Belsat TV.
In total, about 80 persons (representatives of NATO, UN, CSTO, CIS, Red Cross, military departments of seven European countries, etc) are involved in observing the war game. About 150 journalists are covering the event. The figure is quite impressive, but only two NATO observers are allowed to monitor the war game – and only on the so-called visitor days.
According to the organizers, nearly 13,000 troops are involved in the war game as well as 40 aviation equipment pieces, 140 tanks, 150 mortars and multiple rocket launchers and 10 ships. Formally, in according with the 2011 Vienna Document, in such a case a full-scale observation is not not required. But NATO officials question the figures above and make suggestions that 100,000 soldiers may take part in the maneuvers.
