US, German Military Inspectors to Fly Over Russia, Belarus

MOSCOW, March 17 (RIA Novosti) – A group of military inspectors from the United States and Germany will fly above Russia and Belarus starting from Monday under the international Open Skies Treaty, a Russian Defense Ministry official said.

Experts will be conducting flights onboard a Swedish two-engine turboprop aircraft Saab 340 between March 17 and 21, Sergei Ryzhkov, the head of the ministry’s National Nuclear Risk Reduction Center, said.

Russian and Belarusian specialists onboard the surveillance plane will monitor the flights.

The Open Skies Treaty, which entered into force on January 1, 2002, established a regime of unarmed aerial observation flights over the territories of its 34 member states to promote openness and the transparency of military forces and activities. Russia ratified the treaty in May 2001.