NATO is concerned over the recent Russian-Belarusian large-scale military drills "Zapad (West) 2009", said on Wednesday NATO spokesman James Appathurai.
As he said, the NATO Council at the ambassadorial level of 28 member countries of the Alliance at a meeting in Brussels on Thursday, in particular, has expressed a concern about the extent of the exercises, which "were the largest since the end of the "Cold War", as well as the fact that Russia did not invite observers to the maneuvers which is being seen by NATO as a violation of the Vienna obligations".
Vienna Document ("On measures to reduce the military danger and confidence building in Europe"), to which Appathurai referred, in 1999, signed by 55 state-participants of OSCE. This document provides for exchange of information on conducting large-scale military exercises.
In addition, Appathurai said that the NATO allies have also expressed concern regarding the fact that the scenario of Russian-Belarusian doctrines anticipated the ...