MOSCOW, March 14. /TASS/. A joint mission of inspectors from the United Kingdom and Sweden will perform on March 14-18 an observation flight over the territory of the Russian Federation in the framework of the international Open Skies Treaty, a senior Russian Defense Ministry official said Monday.
Chief of the ministry’s national Nuclear Risk Reduction Center Sergey Ryzhkov told TASS that the flight will take place on board a Swedish SAAB-340B aircraft from the Kubinka airfield.
During the flight, which will be performed along an agreed route, Russian specialists on board will control the use of surveillance equipment and observation of treaty provisions, Ryzhkov said.
The Open Skies Treaty was signed in 1992 and has 34 member states. It entered into force in 2002. Surveillance flights are conducted over Russia, the United States, Canada and European countries.
The key tasks of the treaty are to develop transparency, monitor the fulfillment of armament control agreements, and expand capabilities to prevent crises in the framework of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and other international organizations.