MOSCOW. Feb 20 (Interfax) - A group of Dutch military inspectors has completed an inspection of an area in the Rostov region near the Ukrainian border and found no military activity there; this conclusion has been confirmed by the German and Danish representative who also participated in this work, the Russian Defense Ministry has informed.
"Upon completion of the inspection, the head of the inspection group from the Netherlands said there was no military activity in the area, which Russia must report to the OSCE (Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe) members in accordance with its obligations. This conclusion was confirmed by representatives from Germany and Denmark, who also participated in the work of the Dutch group," Sergei Ryzhkov, a Russian defense official in charge of compliance with agreements, told reporters on Friday.
"The inspectors inspected an area of over 13,000 square kilometers in the Rostov region near the Ukrainian border," he said. "It is important to stress that the inspected area largely replicated the area chosen for inspection by Ukrainian specialists a week earlier," Ryzhkov said.
The aim of the inspection was to determine the scale of military activity within said area.
The inspection was conducted fully in accordance with the Vienna Document, both on the ground and from the air (using helicopters), the ministry said.
The Vienna Document envisions a possibility of conducting three annual inspections in any state.
"Given that inspections in the Rostov region were earlier conducted by Ukraine and Turkey, this one exhausts the quota for conducting such events in Russian territory in 2015," Ryzhkov said.