Baltic nations launch OSCE appeal over Russia-Belarus drill

WASHINGTON — Spooked by Russia’s troop buildup in Belarus, the three Baltic nations today filed a formal transparency request under the rules of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, of which Minsk is a member.

The request is meant to encourage Belarus to disclose key data about the Union Resolve 2022 exercise, slated to start on Feb. 10 and run through Feb. 20. The drill, which comes at a time of unprecedented tension between Russia and the West over Ukraine, is meant to flex operational military ties between Russia and Belarus.

The OSCE’s so-called Vienna Document allows all member states to ask for exercise information as a confidence-building measure whenever they feel threatened by another member’s troop movements. Following the transparency missive’s filing at around noon local time on Feb. 9, Belarus has 48 hours to respond, per the Vienna Document’s section on “risk reduction” and “unusual military activities.”

Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia have requested a “detailed explanation on the exercise,” including the total number of troops, battle tanks, armored combat vehicles, artillery pieces, mortars and rocket launchers, envisaged sorties per aircraft, and rapid-reaction forces involved, a spokesperson for the Estonian Embassy in Washington told Defense News.

Latvia and Lithuania are Belarus’s neighbors to the north. Ukraine, which fears another Russian invasion, lies to its south. Western analysts believe the concentration of Russian forces in Belarus is part of Moscow’s calculus in pressuring NATO to close its doors to Ukraine and scale back its presence from eastern alliance members.

Formerly apprehensive about being seen as too close to Moscow, the regime of dictator Alexander Lukashenko has recently become an integral part of Russia’s posturing. The two governments are expected to grow ever closer under the guise of a Russian counter-weight to NATO in Europe.

It’s unclear what response, if any, the Baltics can expect. The Vienna Document says that states launching an exercise information request can ask for a meeting with the petitioned state 48 hours after receiving a response.

Sebastian Sprenger is associate editor for Europe at Defense News, reporting on the state of the defense market in the region, and on U.S.-Europe cooperation and multi-national investments in defense and global security. Previously he served as managing editor for Defense News. He is based in Cologne, Germany.

华盛顿——由于俄罗斯在白俄罗斯增兵，波罗的海三国今天根据欧洲安全与合作组织的规则正式提出透明度请求，明斯克是该组织的成员国。

此次请求旨在敦促白俄罗斯披露有关“联盟决心2022”联合军演的关键数据。该军演定于2月10日至20日举行，正值俄罗斯与西方因乌克兰问题关系空前紧张之际，其目的是展示俄罗斯和白俄罗斯之间的军事行动联系。

欧安组织所谓的《维也纳文件》允许所有成员国在感到受到其他成员国军队调动威胁时，以建立信任为由要求对方提供演习信息。根据《维也纳文件》中关于“降低风险”和“异常军事活动”的条款，在2月9日当地时间中午前后提交透明度请求函后，白俄罗斯有48小时的时间作出回应。

立陶宛、拉脱维亚和爱沙尼亚已要求对此次演习做出“详细解释”，包括参演部队总数、主战坦克、装甲战车、火炮、迫击炮和火箭发射器的数量、每架飞机的预计出动架次以及参与的快速反应部队数量。爱沙尼亚驻华盛顿大使馆的一位发言人告诉《防务新闻》。

拉脱维亚和立陶宛是白俄罗斯北部的邻国。乌克兰位于白俄罗斯南部，担心俄罗斯再次入侵。西方分析人士认为，俄罗斯在白俄罗斯集结兵力是莫斯科施压北约，迫使其对乌克兰关闭大门并缩减在东部盟国的军事存在的策略之一。

过去一直担心被视为与莫斯科走得太近的独裁者亚历山大·卢卡申科政权，如今却已成为俄罗斯战略部署中不可或缺的一部分。预计在俄罗斯作为欧洲抗衡北约力量的幌子下，两国政府的关系将日益密切。

目前尚不清楚波罗的海三国能期待怎样的回应（如果有的话）。《维也纳文件》指出，提出演习信息请求的国家可以在收到回复后48小时内要求与被请求国举行会晤。

塞巴斯蒂安·斯普伦格是《防务新闻》欧洲版副主编，负责报道该地区的防务市场状况，以及美欧在防务和全球安全领域的合作和多国投资。此前，他曾担任《防务新闻》执行主编。他现居德国科隆。