MOSCOW, October 20 (RIA Novosti) – Russia will begin Sunday monitoring flights over NATO members Slovakia and the Czech Republic under the international Open Skies Treaty, the Russian Defense Ministry said.
“A group of Russian inspectors is scheduled to conduct surveillance flights over Slovakia and the Czech Republic on board an An-30B aircraft from October 20 to 26 as part of the implementation of the international Open Skies Treaty,” Sergei Ryzhkov, head of the National Nuclear Risk Reduction Center under the Russian Defense Ministry, said on Saturday.
The missions will be carried out from Slovakia's Malacky air base on October 20-23 and from the Czech Republic's Pardubice on October 23-26, Ryzhkov added.
These will be the 35th and 36th observation flights conducted by Russia over the territories of the treaty member-states in 2013.
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.
Each aircraft flying under the Open Skies program is fitted with optical, infra-red and radar sensors to gather imagery, which can be shared among all signatories to support the monitoring of compliance with arms control treaties.
