MINSK, 29 August (BelTA) - About 150 media representatives have been accredited for the Zapad 2017 military exercise, Belarusian First Deputy Defense Minister, Major-General Oleg Belokonev told the media on 29 August, BelTA has learned.
He noted that Belarus strictly abides by all its obligations on disarmament, verification, confidence-and security-building measures within the framework of the UN and the OSCE. “Being guided by them, Belarus officially notified the Vienna Document 2011 countries of the upcoming military exercise in late 2016. A vivid example of openness and transparency was a press briefing held at the Forum of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe in Vienna in July,” Oleg Belokonev stressed.
Representatives of the military-diplomatic corps accredited in the Belarusian Defense Ministry, representatives of the international organizations such as the UN, OSCE, NATO, CIS, CSTO, ICRC have been also invited to monitor the event. “Additionally, we expect military observers from Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Ukraine, Estonia, Sweden and Norway. All in all, we have invited more than 80 people. Some 150 media representatives have been accredited to cover the active phase of the exercise,” Oleg Belokonev said.
