Romanian-German mission to fly over Russia, Belarus under Open Skies Treaty

A Romanian-German mission will conduct a surveillance flight over Russia and Belarus under the Treaty on Open Skies, according to Sergei Ryzhkov, the head of Russia's Nuclear Risk Reduction Center. "In accordance with the international Treaty on Open Skies, between September 12-16, 2016, a joint German-Romanian mission will conduct a surveillance flight over a group of treaty member states, Russia and Belarus,” said Ryzhkov, cited by Sputnik News. The flight will be carried out with a Romanian An-30 cartography aircraft that will take off from the Kubinka air base in Russia. Romanian and German experts will be onboard, to oversee the observance of treaty clauses. The Treaty on Open Skies, which establishes a program of unarmed aerial surveillance flights over the entire territory of its participants, entered into force on January 1, 2004. It currently has 34 States Parties, namely Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russian Federation, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Turkey, Ukraine, United Kingdom, and United States. Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com (Photo source: Wikipedia)