Belarusian Military Prevented Ukrainian Observers From Visiting Places Of Deployment Of Participants In Zapad-2017 Russian-Belarusian Exercises

The Belarusian military prevented Ukrainian observers from visiting the places of deployment of the participants in the Zapad-2017 Russian-Belarusian military exercises and talking to them.

The press service of the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense announced this in a statement, the Ukrainian News Agency reports.

"The part of the Zapad-2017 Russian-Belarusian strategic exercises that international observers were allowed to monitor was only 'nominally open,' which did not allow representatives of the invited countries to verify that that the declared objectives of the exercises corresponded to the actual forms and methods of use of Belarusian and Russian troops," the statement said.

This conclusion was reached by the Ukrainian observers that participated in the monitoring of military activities during the exercises from September 16 to 20 in accordance with the provisions of the Vienna Document of 2011 and at the invitation of Belarus.

The observers monitored military exercises at the Borisovsk (Minsk region), Osipovits (Mogilev region), Domanovsk, and Ruzhansk (Brest region) military ranges.

However, the monitors were unable to visit the Lepelsk and Losvidovo military ranges and sites in the "Dretun" area and the Glubovsk district of the Vitebsk region.

In addition, observers were unable to verify the true intentions of the forms and methods of use of Belarusian and Russian troops.

According to the conclusions of representatives of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, the host party did not allow observers to speak to Belarusian and Russian military personnel.

In addition, Belarus denied requests to visit places of temporary deployment of military units and military field camps.

"The theme of the exercises and the practical actions of the military units and troops involved were significantly different. The defensive theme of the exercises did not correspond to the plan during their conduct. Military units and troops conducted offensive operations and inflicted defeats on the enemy in areas of concentration, at aerodromes, and on approach routes," the verification department of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine was quoted as saying in the statement.

Two representatives each from Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Poland, Sweden, Ukraine, and Estonia participated in the monitoring of the exercises.

As Ukrainian News Agency earlier reported, the National Security and Defense Council's Secretary Oleksandr Turchynov has said that the practicing of missile and air strikes during the Zapad-2017 Russian-Belarusian military exercises demonstrates that Russia is ready to escalate the deterioration of its relations with Western countries to full-scale war.