"Thorough information about the course of the military exercise Zapad 2013 is published on the official website of the Defense Ministry on a regular basis," the embassy said in a reply sent to BNS on Monday.
"Foreign military attachés accredited to the Russian Federation have been invited to the war games as observers. Furthermore, military attachés of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia officially confirmed their participation in the interview of the Lithuanian defense minister a week ago," the Russian diplomats said.
Olekas said last Friday that Lithuania wanted more transparency in the Russian-Belarusian military exercise Zapad 2013, questioning the publicly announced scenario of the war games.
"We are keeping a close eye on the exercise, we would want them to be more transparent and would like to receive clearer information from Russia about the size of participating troops and the scenario. When we hold an exercise here in Lithuania or territory of any other NATO country, we always invite Russian observers and notify Russia as a NATO partner in a clear manner on the type of exercise we hold. We have not yet received such response from Russia and will thus watch the course of the exercise closely," Olekas told BNS.
Asked about about the maneuvers planned in the Baltic neighborhood in the framework of the exercise, the minister said: "They have announced an anti-terrorist operation, which seems rather odd, as it involves tanks and aviation."
"I am saying once again – we're keeping an eye on what is going on there, the practical actions and will be able to provide information after the exercise," Olekas added.
According to information provided on the Russian Defense Ministry's website, the maneuvers in the Russian territory include about 9,400 soldiers, about 200 of them from Belarus, in addition to about 180 pieces of military equipment, 10 tanks, about 40 aircrafts and about 10 ships.
The part of the exercise in Belarus involves some 2,500 Russian soldiers.
Meanwhile, the information published on the Belarusian Defense Ministry's website suggests that the exercise will involve over 10,000 Belarusian soldiers, 350 pieces of armored equipment, about 70 tanks, more than 50 pieces of artillery and over 50 airplanes and helicopters. Furthermore, about 300 soldiers from Armenia, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan will participate in the exercise, says the Belarusian ministry.
The war games are held in two training grounds in the Kaliningrad region and three in Belarus. On Monday, the second phase of the exercise started in Belarus.
