MOSCOW. Jan 16 (Interfax-AVN) - Two inspection groups, one from Serbia and one from Finland conducted inspections in designated areas within Russia's Western Military District and specifically, near Moscow, Naro-Fominsk, Nizhny Novgorod and Ivanovo, under the Vienna Document of the Negotiations on Confidence and Security-Building Measures on January 16-20, Sergei Ryzhkov, head of Russia's National Nuclear Risk Reduction Center, told Interfax-AVN on Friday.
"All requests received from the inspection groups regarding inspection visits to military sites in the designated area have been accommodated by the Russian side," Ryzhkov said.
In particular, the inspectors were given an opportunity to visit Western Military District firing ranges, to get briefed on 19 large and smaller units based in the Western Military District, including the Aerospace Forces and the Airborne Forces. Besides, the inspection groups carried out helicopter overflights of the areas, he said.
"According to the leaders of the Serbian group and the Finnish group, the Russian Federation has performed in full its international obligations. In these areas the inspectors did not observe any military activity by the Russian Armed Forces such as subject to notification under the 2011 Vienna Document of the Negotiations on Confidence and Security-Building Measures," he said.
The group leaders also noted that the inspections were conducted amid an atmosphere of cooperation and openness, expressing gratitude for the additional opportunity to become familiar with Russian places of interest, Ryzhkov said.