Stoltenberg said there are reasons to suspect that many more soldiers will participate than it’s officially reported

Open source

Secretary General of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization Jens Stoltenberg urges Russia to admit Alliance observers to West-2017 drills, as he said at press conference in Brussels after NATO–Russia Council session.

“It’s too early to say, it remains to be seen, because the exercise hasn’t taken place yet, but from previous experience related to previous exercises, we have every reason to believe that it may be substantially more troops participating than the official reported numbers,” he told.

“We call on Russia to adhere to the Vienna document and allow for transparency inspections and observation of the exercise,” he added.

During this NATO–Russia Council session, Russia briefed on the up-coming West-2017 drills, giving the numbers of airplanes and ships participating, as well as the number of Russian and Belarusian troops.

The drills are planned for September 2017.

As it was reported earlier, NATO is concerned West-2017 military training may influence Ukraine.