Russian aircraft will carry out observation flights over Latvia and Lithuania from August 21-26 under the Treaty on Open Skies, the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement, citing Sergei Ryzhkov, the head of Russia’s National Nuclear Risk Reduction Center.
The observation flights will be carried out in from August 21 to August 26 from airfields in Riga and Siauliai, with representatives of both Baltic countries on board controlling the use of observation equipment and fulfillment of the treaty’s provisions, the statement said.
“According to head of the Russian National Nuclear Risk Reduction Center Sergei Ryzhkov, as part of the international Open Skies Treaty, a group of Russian inspectors plans to sequentially carry out observation flights on board of Russian An-30B aircraft over the territories of Latvia and Lithuania,” the ministry’s statement, published on Sunday, read.
The Treaty on Open Skies was signed in March 1992 and entered into force on January 1, 2002. It establishes the regime of unarmed aerial observation flights over the territories of its participants and enables them to gather information about military forces and activities.