27 February 2007
British experts to inspect area in Brest region for compliance with Vienna security document

A team of British experts was expected to arrive in Minsk on Monday to inspect a "specified area" in the Brest region to verify the lack of notifiable military activities there under the Vienna Document 1999 on confidence and security building measures, Colonel Alyaksandr Buzhan, chief of the Belarusian defense ministry's National Agency for Control and Inspections, told BelaPAN.

The team, which is led by Lieutenant-Commander James Schnadhorst, is expected to conclude the inspection on March 1.
Adopted by the OSCE Forum for Security Cooperation in Istanbul on November 16, 1999, the document came into force on January 1, 2000. It succeeded Vienna Documents adopted in 1990, 1992 and 1994. All the 55 participating countries of the OSCE have acceded to the document.

It is aimed at achieving progress in disarmament and building security and confidence so that the participating countries will meet their commitment to refrain from using force against one another or any other countries.