According to Deputy Defense Minister Alexander Fomin, Moscow did this out of the principle of reciprocity
MOSCOW, October 8. /TASS/. Russia did not invite military attaches of NATO countries to the main draw of practical actions of the strategic Russian-Belarusian exercise "WEST-2021" at the Mulino training ground on the principle of reciprocity, Russian Deputy Defense Minister Alexander Fomin said on Friday.
"Military attaches of NATO countries were not invited to this stage of the exercise, based on the principle of reciprocity, since Russian military attaches were not invited to a similar exercise of the Defender of Europe-2021 alliance," he said at a briefing for foreign military attaches.
According to Fomin, Russia notified the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) 42 days before the start of the exercises on the number of personnel of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation during the exercises.
He recalled that about 200 thousand people, 80 airplanes and helicopters, 760 units of military equipment and 15 warships took part in ZAPAD-2021. They were observed by representatives of Vietnam, China, Myanmar, Pakistan and Uzbekistan. The drawings of the fighting took place at five training grounds in Belarus and nine training grounds in Russia, as well as in the Baltic Sea.
Earlier, the first deputy head of the Main Directorate of International Military Cooperation of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, Major General Yevgeny Ilyin, said that no more than 6,400 servicemen would take part in individual episodes of the exercises falling under the Vienna Document of 2011. At the same time, the Vienna Document prescribes the mandatory invitation of observers to the exercises, in some episodes of which at least 13 thousand military personnel participate.
