MOSCOW. July 15 (Interfax) - Italian and British inspectors will make observation flights over the territory of the Union State of Russia and Belarus as part of the Treaty on Open Skies starting on Monday, Russian National Nuclear Risk Reduction Center chief Sergei Ryzhkov said.
"A mission of Italy and the United Kingdom will make a joint observation flight over the territory of Belarus and Russia from July 15 to July 19 as part of the Treaty on Open Skies," the Krasnaya Zvezda newspaper of the Russian Defense Ministry quoted Ryzhkov as saying.
Inspectors will take off from the Kubinka airfield in the Moscow region aboard Romania's Antonov An-30 observation aircraft, he said.
Russian specialists aboard the aircraft will control the compliance with the flight parameters and the use of equipment provided by the treaty during the flight along the planned route.
"Russia is going to make an observation flight aboard an An-30B observation aircraft over Italy on the same dates as part of the Treaty on Open Skies," Ryzhkov said.
The 2,000-kilometer flight will be made from the Ciampino airfield. The Russian aircraft will fly along the planned route, and Italian specials will control the order of using equipment and compliance with the treaty provisions.
Open Skies observation flight are promoting greater openness and transparency in military activities of the treaty signatories and enhancing security by means of confidence- and security-building measures.
"A Russian group of specialists also plans to inspect a specified area in Hungary from July 15 to July 19 as part of the 2011 Vienna Document on Confidence- and Security-Building Measures," Ryzhkov said.
The inspection is aimed at defining the scope and scale of notifiable military activities or confirming the absence of such activities. The specified area covers around 17,000 square kilometers.
Russian inspectors will visit training and firing ranges, will be given briefings on the military activities held in the specified area, as well as information about the military formations and units in the designated area.
Spain will conduct a similar inspection in Tajikistan on July15-18.