On March 14-18, Russia and the United States will make a joint flight over Swedish territory onboard a Russian An-30B aircraft and take photos of the territory, the Russian Foreign Ministry’s web site reads.
The flight completes a series of mutual aerial monitoring missions between Russia, the U.S. and Sweden. In 2008 Russia and Sweden made inspection flights over the United States, and Sweden and the U.S. monitored Russia in 2009.
In 2008, Russian territory was photographed from the air by Finland and Germany, and Finland was monitored from the air by Russia and France, as BarentsObserver reported.
The Open Skies Treaty, signed in 1992 at the initiative of U.S. President George Bush Sr., established a regime of unarmed aerial observation flights over the territories of its 34 member states to promote openness and transparency of military forces and activities.
The Open Skies regime covers the territory over which the State Party exercises sovereignty, including land, islands, and internal and territorial waters. The treaty specifies that the entire territory of a State Party is open to observation. Observation flights may only be restricted for reasons of flight safety; not for reasons of national security. Imagery collected from Open Skies missions is available to any State Party upon request.
