MOSCOW, May 05./ITAR-TASS/. A joint mission of Norway and the United States will make an observation flight over Russia on May 5-8 under the Treaty of Open Skies, chief of the national centre for nuclear threat reduction Sergey Ryzhkov told ITAR-TASS.

“During the flight on the coordinated route Russian specialists on board a Romanian observation airplane Antonov An-30 will be controlling strict observation of coordinated parameters of the flight and use of monitoring equipment envisaged under the Treaty of Open Skies,” he said.

In his words, the airplane An-30 belongs to aircrafts not designed for being armed with any weapons. The observation equipment mounted on it passed required international certification in which Russian specialists participated as well.

The Treaty of Open Skies signed in 1992 brings together 34 countries. Observation flights are made over Russia, the United States, Canada and European countries. The main tasks of the treaty are development of transparency, assistance to supervision over fulfilment of the agreements on arms control, expansion of possibilities to avert crises and settle crisis situations within the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) and other international organisations.