Stockholm Accord Permits Each Side to View Maneuvers : NATO Satisfied With Observations of East Bloc Forces

A year after the Stockholm agreement on military confidence-building measures in Europe, staff officers at headquarters of the Atlantic Alliance say they are “fully satisfied” with the results of their visits to the East Bloc to observe military exercises.

From April to October this year, about 30 staff officers of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization went to Eastern Europe to observe nine Warsaw Pact exercises. About 40 Warsaw Pact officers came to the West to observe eight NATO exercises.

Warsaw Pact officers are now in Britain to watch a major amphibious exercise that begins at the channel port of Plymouth and will end next week in Scotland.

‘Not Really the Point’

“I would not say that we learned much that we did not already know about Warsaw Pact forces, but we did not expect this, and this was not really the point of the exercise,” said a West German officer on the NATO military committee here.

“What was important at this stage was that the terms of the Stockholm agreement were carried out fully, with no hitches and no arguments or difficulties. We saw what we were supposed to be allowed to see, and we were given the access we were supposed to be given.”

For the first time under the Stockholm agreement, which was concluded in September, 1986, the Soviet Union has opened up its territory to limited on-site inspection and verification of military forces. The manner in which it carries out these obligations is considered important to the Geneva negotiations on verification and inspection of reductions in nuclear weapons--a much more complicated and serious matter than simply observing military maneuvers.

All 35 governments that signed the 1975 Helsinki agreements on security and cooperation in Europe have also joined in the Stockholm agreement. This requires notification every November of all military exercises planned for the year ahead, and it requires that observers from the other side be invited to any exercise that involves more than 17,000 ground soldiers or 5,000 amphibious or airborne soldiers.

‘Challenge Inspection’

In addition, any signatory country is entitled to make a “challenge inspection” on 48 hours’ notice of any military activity in any other signatory country when there are doubts or suspicions about unusual or unexpected military activities.

In 1987, notification was given on nearly 60 exercises in Europe, from Norway to Turkey. About a third of these involved more than 17,000 men and were thus open to military observers. Notifications for the coming year are being submitted from all over Europe, but NATO does not expect to see any big change in the basic pattern established in 1987.

The most important test of the Stockholm agreement came at the end of September, when the United States decided to ask Moscow for an immediate special inspection of an exercise in the Minsk area of the western Ukraine.

The Soviets had said that maneuvers would involve only 15,000 men and therefore would not involve observers. But since the maneuvers included elements of a tank division and a motorized rifle division, U.S. intelligence suspected that it might involve more than 15,000 men and, therefore, might be worth a look.

Almost Immediate Compliance

Through the U.S. military attache’s office in Moscow, Soviet authorities were asked to clear the way for the arrival of a U.S. Army inspection team of four men in the Minsk area within 48 hours. The Soviet authorities complied almost immediately.

The U.S. Air Force flew the American officers in from Frankfurt, West Germany, picking up a Soviet navigator along the way. The American officers spent two days in the Minsk area traveling by jeep and helicopter--provided by the Soviets--over an area of about 20 square miles.

Although the Americans did not get into headquarters or operational command posts and saw no communications units or any more than they were allowed to see under the Stockholm agreement, they were correctly treated and saw enough to satisfy them that the exercise was indeed no more than had been advertised.

“We were fully satisfied with the way things went,” an American officer at NATO headquarters said.

Later, the Soviets asked for, and received, permission to make a similar inspection of a military exercise in Turkey.

According to the West German officer, the Polish military showed the most cooperative attitude toward Western observers, while the Soviets went strictly by the rules spelled out in the Stockholm agreement. Command posts were pointed out, but observers were not allowed inside.

Looser NATO Guidelines

On the other hand, Warsaw Pact observers were allowed inside NATO command posts everywhere for map briefings on activities planned for the day. But they were not allowed into any of the communications installations, and they were not allowed into any permanent military installations.

West German officers noted that the East German army units maneuvering side by side with the Soviets were invariably smarter in appearance and always seemed determined to outperform the Soviet army in getting to new tactical positions in accordance with the exercise plan.

They also noted that Warsaw Pact maneuvers were always conducted completely in accordance with fixed preliminary planning, instead of the NATO-style “free maneuvers,” in which unit commanders are expected to make their own tactical decisions and moves as the maneuvers unfold.