MOSCOW, October 20 (RIA Novosti) – Russian inspectors will conduct an observation flight over the territory of the United States under the Treaty on Open Skies, Sergei Zabello, acting chief of Russia's National Nuclear Risk Reduction Center said.
"As part of the international Treaty on Open Skies a Russian team of inspectors plans to carry out an observation flight on a Russian Tupolev Tu-154M Lk-1 observation aircraft, over the territory of the United States," Zabello said.
It will be Russia's 33rd observation flight conducted under the treaty this year.
According to Zabello, the observation flight will be carried out on October 20-25, 2014 from the Travis Air Force Base in the US state of California.
"The maximum range of the flight above the United States will stand at 4,250 kilometers [2,640 miles]," Zabello noted, adding that the "observation flight is being conducted with the aim of promoting greater transparency of military activities" and "strengthening security through confidence-building measures".
The Treaty on Open Skies, which was signed on March 24, 1992 in Helsinki, established a regime of unarmed aerial observation flights over the territories of its 34 member-states.
The treaty came into force on January 1, 2002. Russia ratified the treaty on May 26, 2001.
