MOSCOW, February 27. /TASS/. A group of Russian military inspectors will carry out this week an observation flight over the territory of Turkey within the frames of the international Open Skies Treaty, a senior Russian Defense Ministry official said.

"The observation flight over Turkey will be carried out between February 27 and March 3 from the Eskisehir airport," chief of the ministry’s national Nuclear Risk Reduction Center Sergey Ryzhkov said. "The estimated flight range is 1,900 kilometers.

"The Russian surveillance aircraft will be strictly following an earlier approved route and Turkish specialists on board of the plane will be supervising the use of the surveillance equipment and observation of the Treaty provisions," Ryzhkov added.

This will be Russia’s third observation flight since the beginning of this year within the frames of the Open Skies agreement.

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.