Military inspectors of the USA and Germany will make observation flight over Russia from 13 to 18 March in the framework of the international Treaty on open skies. At the same time, the Russian military will fly with a similar mission over the territories of Germany, Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg. About it reports “RIA Novosti” with reference to the head of the Russian national Centre for reducing nuclear danger Sergey Ryzhkov.
According to him, German-American, the mission will be performed on the observation aircraft OC-135Б United States air force from the airport of Khabarovsk. The flight will take place on the agreed route, on Board in addition to foreign military will be the Russian specialists, who will monitor compliance with approved flight parameters and application of the contractual instrument.
The Russian team, in turn, will carry out observation flights by plane An-30B from the airfield the open sky Zaventem/Melsbroek (Belgium) and Wunstorf (Germany) “with a maximum range of 645 and 1300 kilometers respectively.” To follow the progress of the mission will also Germany, Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg.
The head of the Russian Center said that this is the fourth and the fifth observation flights Russia over the territories of the States parties to the international Treaty in 2017.
The agreement on open skies was signed in 1992 with the aim of strengthening confidence in the European countries after the Cold war. The agreement allows participating countries (the majority of NATO countries, Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, Georgia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Sweden and Finland), officially and openly gather information on the armed forces of each other and the ongoing military activities.
