Russia refuses to disclose military data to OSCE countries Russia

refused to provide information about its armed forces under the OSCE Vienna Document. She called such a step a response to the actions of Western countries. However,

How Moscow explains its refusal

RUSSIA has refused to participate in the annual data exchange on the armed forces, which is stipulated in the Vienna Document 2011 (VD-2011) and covers 57 member countries of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). This was reported by the American Arms Control Association with reference to a corresponding letter from the Russian side and an unnamed European representative. This information was confirmed to RBC by the HEAD of the Russian delegation at the talks in Vienna on military security issues, Konstantin Gavrilov.

The 2011 Vienna Document on Confidence- and Security-Building Measures provides for the exchange of information between OSCE countries on their armed forces, defense planning and military budgets; it also fixed a system of mutual notifications and inspections. Through the OSCE communication network, states inform each other about certain types of their military activities, invite observers to their events, and inspect areas in order to avoid misinterpreting each other's military activities. This 70-page document is politically binding and does not require ratification.

The first Vienna Document was agreed upon in 1990 by the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE), which in 1995 was transformed into the OSCE. The document was updated in 1992, 1994 and 1999. It was discussed again in 2007, when Russia suspended its participation in the Treaty on Conventional Arms in Europe (CFE).

For the first time, Moscow notified the parties of its decision on January 16, 2023, when Konstantin Gavrilov sent a corresponding letter to the representative of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Sinisa Bentzun, who was the chairman of the OSCE Forum for Security Cooperation (the letter is at the disposal of RBC).

It says that Moscow will not provide information about its armed forces for 2023, as required by Section I of the Vienna Document. The move, writes Gavrilov, is linked to the Czech Republic's decision to "suspend its commitments to Russia," as well as Ukraine's announcement of its "refusal to participate in the Annual Exchange of Military Information (AEMI) in 2023" and to send appropriate notifications. “We proceed from the fact that if the Russian Federation provides information within the framework of the JVI, it will end up in the hands of the states mentioned above,” the letter says.

“The key principle of diplomacy is the principle of reciprocity. We simply could not allow that in the event of the transfer of data on the Russian armed forces, our information would get to the mentioned states, ”Gavrilov told RBC.

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The Russian side also accused a number of states of non-compliance with various provisions of the VD-2011:

Great Britain, Germany, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovenia, usa , France, Sweden, Estonia and other countries (29 in total) - that they did not provide a certain type of notification in time; Bulgaria, Poland and France - that they did not invite Russia to their military bases; The Netherlands is that they have excluded Russia from the list of countries that receive notifications from them.

Gavrilov told RBC that on March 1, Moscow and MINSK drew attention to the fact that Western countries “do not fully participate in the exchange of military information and artificially block verification activities within the framework of VD-2011.” He accused Western countries of "actively changing the plans for conducting exercises - increasing their scale and intensity."

“For example, on February 16, the largest multinational exercises Orion-23 in recent decades started in France. We learned about their beginning from the press, and not through the official channels of the Vienna Document. This is despite the fact that NATO allies during these maneuvers are practicing conducting large-scale military operations in all environments, ”Gavrilov says, accusing Western countries of not agreeing on the dates for the annual meeting to assess the implementation of VD-2011 since December 2022. “The Russian delegation is making every effort to move the decision-making process off the ground. But the resistance of the Western “conglomerate” is too great,” he said. “According to our estimates, they are simply afraid that we will announce the entire array of their violations of the CSBM regime, as well as the facts of violation of the VD-2011 by Ukraine that they have covered for many years.”

According to the Arms Control Association, by February 2023, 50 countries had provided information on their military activities. Four states - Armenia, Mongolia, Poland and Ukraine - did this "with a delay", two more countries - Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan - have not provided this data for many years.

What are the claims of Western countries to Moscow

Western countries and Ukraine, in turn, also have a number of claims against Russia. In January 2022, the Latvian Ministry of Defense accused Moscow of canceling Latvian inspections in the Bryansk and Smolensk regions. The formal reason was the covid-19 pandemic , which, however, did not prevent Moscow from conducting large-scale military maneuvers, according to the website of the department.

In February 2022, on the eve of the start of the Russian special operation in Ukraine, Kiev sent a request to Moscow with a demand within 48 hours to give “detailed clarifications on military activities” near its borders – the basis of this requirement is Section III of the Vienna Document (“Reducing the danger”). “According to the provisions of the Vienna Document, the Russian Federation must provide the exact areas for conducting military activities, report the date of completion, as well as the name, subordination, number of military formations; as well as the types of weapons and military equipment involved in it,” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba wrote on Twitter on February 11, 2022.

Russia refused the Ukrainian request, stating that it does not conduct “any unusual military activity”, and therefore the provisions of the Vienna Document are not applicable here. The Russian document said Moscow had "every reason" to dismiss Kyiv's request because it contained "provocative statements" on Crimea. Russia also accused Ukraine of having concentrated more than 120,000 of its military in the Luhansk and Donetsk regions, who are ready to start hostilities.

Against the background of the conflict in Ukraine in August 2022, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said that the OSCE "has become a generator of anti-Russian narratives" and that although the Vienna Document 2011 "formally remains in force", "there are no prospects for its practical implementation". “In the absence of trust between the parties, the verification mechanism actually turns into a source of intelligence information, which does not correspond to the spirit of this agreement,” the minister said at the opening of the Moscow Conference on International Security.

Claims against Moscow are regularly expressed by the United States - Washington cites them in the annual reports of the State Department on compliance with international treaties in the field of arms control. The latest such report following the results of 2021 states that Moscow, in particular, did not provide information about its armed forces on the territory of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, did not provide details about two types of combat aircraft (Su-35S and Su-30SM) and one type attack helicopter (Ka-52), and also conducted in March-April 2021 "an unusual and unplanned military build-up in Crimea and near the Russian border with Ukraine."