Russia performing observation flights above Estonia, Finland

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Photo: Reuters / Scanpix

Russia started on Sunday observation flights in the airspace of Estonia and Finland under the Open Skies Treaty.

According to the Russian  Defense Ministry the flights will last till Saturday, Finnish news agency STT reports.

The flights are performed with an internationally certified An-30B aircraft equipped with an optical panoramic camera. In addition to Russian observers Estonian and Finnish specialists are on board the plane.

The plane is using the Helsinki Vantaa airport in Finland and the Tartu airport in Estonia.

The Open Skies Treaty is part of the security and confidence building measures among member states of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), the narrower purpose of which is to gather and make available information about military forces and facilities. It was signed in Helsinki in 1992 and entered into force in 2002. To date 33 OSCE countries, among them all NATO member states, have acceded to the treaty.

Finland joined the treaty in 2003 and Estonia in 2005.

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