Mission of verification under the Dayton Agreements in the Republic of Serbia

• An inspector from the Spanish Verification Unit participates as an observer in three inspections to the Serbian Armed Forces under the provisions of the Sub-Regional Arms Control Agreement

The Kingdom of Spain and the Russian Federation received invitations for an inspector from the Spanish Verification Unit (SVU) and a member of the Russian Conventional Arms Control Division to join, as observers from an OSCE country, to the Serbian-led team for hosting three consecutive inspections conducted by Bosnia and Herzegovina under the framework of the Peace Agreement in BiH Art. IV (the so-called Dayton Accords). This agreement sets out a set of measures for stability in the region and the creation of lasting peace through arms control of the States Parties: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro and Serbia.

Given the situation of suspension of verification activities and the border closures caused by the COVID pandemic, Bosnia and Herzegovina wanted to use up the available quota of three inspections during the past week. In this regard, it should be noted that it has been 15 years since so many consecutive inspections were carried out in one week.

The mission started on August the 31^st at the Kotroman border post, where the inspection team from Bosnia and Herzegovina, consisting of four inspectors and an guest observer from the Czech Republic, was hosted.

On the following days, all personnel was transferred to the city of Niš and then to Belgrade, where the actual inspections took place, including briefings on the personnel, material, equipment and activity of the military units visited.

After the briefings, on site inspections were carried out by touring barracks, visiting the warehouses, buildings and weapon depots, where arms limited by the Agreement are stored: battle tanks, artillery pieces, armoured personnel carriers and infantry fighting vehicles, as well as fighter aircraft.

Article VIII of the Agreement stipulates that the States Parties to the Agreement shall exchange annual information on the number, type and location of restricted armaments, including those listed above: combat aircraft and attack helicopters. Over the coyrse of these inspections, no mismatches were detected between the information provided by Serbia and the assets found at each of the facilities visited.