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Foreign observers carry out 8 inspections in Russia’s territory

The inspections were part of military transparency measures in the framework of the Open Skies Treaty and the 2011 Vienna Document on Transparency and Confidence-building Measures

Ballistic missile utilization center in Russia (archive) ITAR-TASS/Nikolai Moshkov

Ballistic missile utilization center in Russia (archive)

© ITAR-TASS/Nikolai Moshkov

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OSCE military observers visit south-eastern Ukraine — Foreign Ministry

MOSCOW, April 16. /ITAR-TASS/. Foreign inspectors have carried out eight inspections in Russia’s territory as part of military transparency measures in the last month, Russian Deputy Defense Minister Anatoly Antonov said in an interview with the Rossiya 24 TV news channel on Wednesday.

He denied reports of massive Russian troop concentration near the border with Ukraine, calling them an information war.

“We have mechanisms of transparency agreed in Vienna within the framework of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). There is the Open Skies Treaty and the 2011 Vienna Document on Transparency and Confidence-building Measures which provide for certain verification procedures,” Antonov said, noting that foreign observers had carried out eight inspections, including 7 near the Russia-Ukraine border, in the past month.

He denied as groundless Western allegations that Russia was building up military forces.

“It is nonsense to say that the nuclear West is disarming while the nuclear Russia is building up forces,” the Russian deputy minister said.

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