Russian Military Inspection Team Flies To London

A team of Russian military inspectors has arrived in London for what a military-diplomatic source in Moscow described as "the Russian Defense Ministry's routine inspection activity to verify the observance of the Conventional Forces in Europe (CFE) Treaty provisions by signatory states." The source said that while in Britain on January 15 through 17, the Russian inspectors would tour two British Armed Forces facilities that are subject to verification procedures. These, he said, could be either military units or military infrastructure sites. "This is a routine, scheduled tour of Russian military inspectors to the United Kingdom and it is in no way linked to the latest developments on the international scene," the official emphasized. He added that similar visits by foreign military inspectors to monitor Russia's observance of the CFE Treaty provisions have long become a habitual occurrence and give no cause for concern in the Russian military agency.