Naval Confidence-building Measures (CBMs) in the Baltic

Abstract

In discussions about the future of confidence-building measures one of the ideas put forward has been to expand the prior notifications of military manoeuvres to include, in addition to land forces, other services as well. For many reasons, not least practical ones, naval manoeuvres seem to be a likely candidate for supplementing the CBMs with new components. In the Belgrade follow-up conference the neutrals and nonaligned as well as Romania proposed that consideration should also be given to the notification of naval manoeuvres. The idea seems to have gained the support of the Warsaw Pact countries as well. In his speech of 2 March 1979, Secretary General Brezhnev suggested expanding the notification practice: to notify in advance not only of manoeuvres but also of all major troop movements in Europe and major naval exercises if they are carried out in the vicinity of other CSCE-States. Since then the Warsaw Pact declarations have included the possibility of expanding the scope of confidence-building measures.