Russia to make surveillance flights over Portugal, Spain

PanARMENIAN.Net - Russian military inspectors will carry out surveillance flights over Portugal and Spain starting on Monday, Dec 10, under the international Open Skies Treaty, Russia’s Defense Ministry has said, according to RIA Novosti.

Russian experts will conduct the flights over the Portuguese and Spanish territories in a Tupolev Tu-154 M/LK-1 aircraft between December 10 and 15, a spokesman for the ministry said.

The flight will start from the Lisbon airfield. The maximum range of the flights will be 3,000 kilometers (1,865 miles).

During the flights, Russian specialists and their foreign colleagues will operate surveillance equipment on board of the aircraft as set out in the international Open Skies Treaty.

It will be the 37th and 38th survey flights this year made by Russian specialists over the territories of the Open Skies Treaty member states. Russia ratified the treaty in May 2001.

The Open Skies Treaty, which entered into force on January 1, 2002, establishes a regime of unarmed aerial observation flights over the territories of its 34 member states to promote openness and the transparency of military forces and activities.