US inspectors to make Open Skies flight over Russia

  The US inspectors will make an observation flight over Russia under the Treaty on Open Skies on April 1–5, the press service of the Russian Defence Ministry told Itar-Tass on Sunday. “The group of inspectors will make a flight by the airplane OC-135B,” the press service reported. “This airplane is not designed for the use of any weapons, the avionics installed on the airplane passed the necessary international certification, in which Russian representatives will participate as well,” the press service said. “The flight will be made on the route coordinated with the Russian specialists, who onboard the airplane together with their partners will be controlling the observance of the provisions and the agreements over the use of the technical observation equipment,” the press service said. The Treaty on Open Skies was signed in 1992. As many as 34 countries signed the treaty. The Open Skies flights are made over the United States, Canada, European countries and Russia. The main tasks of the Open Skies regime are considered the development of transparency, the assistance to the observance of the fulfilment of the agreements over the control for weapons, broader opportunities to avert crises and the settlement of the crisis situations in the Conference for Security and Cooperation in Europe and other international organizations. The treaty envisages an opportunity to spread the Open Skies regime to new spheres of cooperation, including environmental protection in the future.