A Norway-US joint mission will make an observation flight over Russia this week, between May 5 and May 8, under the Treaty of Open Skies, Sergey Ryzhkov, chief of the national center for nuclear threat reduction, told Itar-Tass.

“During the flight on the coordinated route, Russian specialists on board of an Antonov An-30 Romanian observation airplane, will be controlling a strict observation of coordinated parameters of the flight and use of monitoring equipment envisaged under the Treaty of Open Skies,” Ryzhkov said.

According to him, the airplane An-30 is among the aircrafts not designed for being armed with any weapons. The installed observation equipment passed the required international certification, in which Russian specialists also participated.

The Treaty of Open Skies was signed in 1992 and brings together 34 countries. The observation flights are made over Russia, the United States, Canada and European countries.

Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com