On July 13, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that the aliance does not see any imminent threat posed against any NATO member by the drills. He added that NATO would take part in the inspection of the Zapad-2017 drills according to the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe’s (OSCE) Vienna Document on security-building measures.
Russia's envoy to NATO Alexander Grushko said that NATO's increasing military presence of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in Eastern Europe "went unnoticed" amid groundless criticism of the Russian-Belarusian Zapad-2017 military exercises.
"Lithuania hopes that Belarus will invite the representatives of all neighboring countries and provide detailed information on the drills. Lithuania has not yet received the invitation to observe Zapad drills," the statement quoted by the Lietuvos zinios media outlet read.
At a meeting of the Russia-NATO Council in Brussels in July, the Russian side informed the alliance of the Zapad-2017 exercises, while the NATO members briefed on the upcoming Trident Javelin exercises.
