February 22, 2016
By AP
Russia will ask permission (click here) on Monday to start flying surveillance planes equipped with high-powered digital cameras amid warnings from U.S. intelligence and military officials that such overflights help Moscow collect intelligence on the United States.
Russia and the United States are signatories to the Open Skies Treaty, which allows unarmed observation flights over the entire territory of all 34 member nations to foster transparency about military activity and help monitor arms control and other agreements. Senior intelligence and military officials, however, worry that Russia is taking advantage of technological advances to violate the spirit of the treaty.
Russia will formally ask the Open Skies Consultative Commission, based in Vienna, to be allowed to fly an aircraft equipped with high-tech sensors over the United States, according to a senior congressional staffer, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the staff member wasn't authorized to discuss the issue publicly....
By AP
Russia will ask permission (click here) on Monday to start flying surveillance planes equipped with high-powered digital cameras amid warnings from U.S. intelligence and military officials that such overflights help Moscow collect intelligence on the United States.
Russia and the United States are signatories to the Open Skies Treaty, which allows unarmed observation flights over the entire territory of all 34 member nations to foster transparency about military activity and help monitor arms control and other agreements. Senior intelligence and military officials, however, worry that Russia is taking advantage of technological advances to violate the spirit of the treaty.
Russia will formally ask the Open Skies Consultative Commission, based in Vienna, to be allowed to fly an aircraft equipped with high-tech sensors over the United States, according to a senior congressional staffer, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the staff member wasn't authorized to discuss the issue publicly....
A general application is not what is at the heart of that Treaty. Russia knows that.
When Non-Proliferation is honored among the signators it is verified when nuclear warheads are dissembled and the nuclear material degraded for peaceful uses. Non-Proliferation isn't really served by the Open Skies Treaty. Unless Russia is convinced on new imaging there are new missile silos in violation of the Non-Proliferation Treaty.
Members of a Russian (click here) crew pose on the tarmac next to a Tu-154 aircraft together with their U.S. counterparts during an observation flight over the territory of the United States under the open Skies Treaty, July 2000.
OSCE photo / Jul 2000
The Open Skies Consultative Commission (OSCC) (click here) is the implementing body for the Open Skies Treaty. It consists of representatives from each of the 34 States Parties to the Open Skies Treaty. The OSCC meets at the headquarters of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) in Vienna, Austria....
I think most countries have a doubt about the application of the treaty. In the case of Slovakia, there was a specific reason why it was appropriate to implement the Open Skies Treaty. I am sure Russia has it's reasons, but, I can't imagine what they might be.
When Non-Proliferation is honored among the signators it is verified when nuclear warheads are dissembled and the nuclear material degraded for peaceful uses. Non-Proliferation isn't really served by the Open Skies Treaty. Unless Russia is convinced on new imaging there are new missile silos in violation of the Non-Proliferation Treaty.
OSCE photo / Jul 2000
The Open Skies Consultative Commission (OSCC) (click here) is the implementing body for the Open Skies Treaty. It consists of representatives from each of the 34 States Parties to the Open Skies Treaty. The OSCC meets at the headquarters of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) in Vienna, Austria....
I think most countries have a doubt about the application of the treaty. In the case of Slovakia, there was a specific reason why it was appropriate to implement the Open Skies Treaty. I am sure Russia has it's reasons, but, I can't imagine what they might be.
The Open Skies Treaty (click here) entered into force in January 2002, and covers territory from Vancouver to Vladivostock. The Treaty establishes a regime of unarmed aerial observation flights over the entire territory of its 34 signatories. It is designed to enhance mutual understanding and confidence by giving all participants, regardless of size, the possibility to obtain information on military or other activities of concern to them. Open Skies is the most wide-ranging international effort to date to promote openness and transparency of military forces and their activities....
A Saab-340B aircraft on the tarmac during a joint US-Swedish training flight over Slovakia, 28 May 2008, under the Open Skies Treaty. (OSCE/Mikhail Evstafiev)
