US, Ukrainian Inspectors to Fly Over Russia Under Open Skies Treaty

The head of Russia's National Nuclear Risk Reduction Center announced that American and Ukrainian specialists will fly over the territory of Russia and Belarus under the Treaty on Open Skies on March 30 - April 4.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) – American and Ukrainian specialists will fly over the territory of Russia and Belarus under the Treaty on Open Skies on March 30 — April 4, Sergei Ryzhkov, head of Russia's National Nuclear Risk Reduction Center has announced.

"Within the framework of the international Treaty on Open Skies a US mission with the participation of Ukrainian representatives plans to conduct an observation flight over the territory of a group of participating states, the Republic of Belarus and the Russian Federation," Ryzhkov said.

The flight will be carried out using the Boeing OC-135B American observation aircraft.

The Boeing OC-135B Open Skies plane is not equipped with any weapons and only uses internationally-approved observation technology allowed by the treaty.

The Treaty on Open Skies, signed in 1992, established a regime of unarmed aerial observation flights over the territories of its 34 member-states to promote openness and transparency of military activities.

The concept of the treaty was re-introduced by President George H.W. Bush in 1989, following an original proposal by President Eisenhower in 1955. It came into force on January 1, 2002. Russia ratified the Treaty on Open Skies on May 26, 2001.