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Finnish inspectors to check Russian motorised rifle brigade

The purpose of visit is to check the data previously provided by the Russian side on the military forces and plans for the deployment of the main weapons systems and military hardware of the brigade

MOSCOW, October 13. /TASS/. Inspectors from Finland will check the motorised infantry formation in Russia’s Murmansk region under a bilateral agreement within the framework of the Vienna Document 2011 on confidence and security building measures of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), head of the Russian National Nuclear Risk Reduction Center Sergey Ryzhkov said on Tuesday.

The Finnish inspectors will arrive at the military facility on Tuesday, October 13 and will stay there for four days.

"The purpose of visit is to check the information previously provided by the Russian side on the military forces and plans for the deployment of the main weapons systems and military hardware of the brigade [in the Murmansk region]," Ryzhkov said.

According to him, the inspectors will familiarise themselves with the personnel and main weapon systems and military equipment of the motorised infantry formation.

Vienna Document 2011 (VD11) is composed of politically binding confidence and security-building measures (CSBMs) designed to increase openness and transparency concerning military activities conducted inside the OSCE's zone of application (ZOA), which includes the territory, surrounding sea areas, and air space of all European (Russia from the western border to the Ural Mountains) and Central Asian participating States. A variety of information exchanges, on-site inspections, evaluation visits, observation visits, and other military-to-military contacts take place according to VD11 provisions. In the case of the United States (and Canada), only military forces and activities inside the ZOA are impacted.