Russia refused to disclose information about the armed forces to the OSCE countries

Russia refused to participate in the annual exchange of data on the armed forces under the Vienna Document between 57 OSCE member states, the American Arms Control Association reports, citing a corresponding letter from the Russian side and the European representative.

“Moscow’s decision was first communicated on January 16, 2022, in a letter signed by Konstantin Gavrilov, head of the Russian arms control delegation in Vienna, to Ambassador of Bosnia and Herzegovina to the OSCE Sinis Benchun, who at the time also chaired the Organization for Security and Cooperation forum “, the organization notes.

Gavrilov said that Russia would not provide information about its armed forces for 2023, as provided for by the first chapter of the Vienna Document, in essence, suspending its participation in the annual exchange, which is supposed to be provided every year until December 15.

In his letter, Gavrilov also wrote that the Russian decision was made, in particular, in response to the Czech side’s step to suspend the fulfillment of its obligations under the Vienna Document in relation to Russia.

The letter also indicated that 29 participating States, including Estonia, France, Germany, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovenia, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States, were late in submitting certain notifications, and the Netherlands excluded Russia from the list of notification recipients. In addition, Russia accused Bulgaria, France and Poland of not inviting Russian representatives to their military bases.

The Vienna Document 2011 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.

On February 28, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a law suspending Russia’s participation in the Treaty on the Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms (START, START-III). It followed from the document that the decision to resume the country’s participation in this treaty is made by the head of state. Putin announced the suspension of Russia’s participation in START on February 21 during his address to the Federal Assembly.