adviser to the US President for national security Robert O’brien in an interview with German newspaper Bild called the Russian military infrastructure in the Kaliningrad region “a dagger in the heart of Europe”. According to him, the Russian authorities have placed in this region, “a huge number of missiles and weapons aimed at the European allies of the United States, primarily in the Baltic States”.
“in the framework of the open skies Treaty we could not get the opportunity to carry out a flyby of the Kaliningrad region” — said Robert O’brien. A large part of the interview was devoted to the reasons for the US withdrawal from the Treaty on open skies (DON).
“Kaliningrad could due its geographical location to become a trade hub, the center of tourism and social contacts between Russia and Western Europe,” said Robert O’brien.
meanwhile, his words that the Russian authorities did not give the US or other countries, the right of inspection of the region within the framework of the open skies Treaty are not true. So, for example, in March the Americans in the composition of the flyby trajectory one group with the participation of inspectors from Estonia, and Lithuania have carried out another, and not the first observation flight over the Kaliningrad region.
the Russian authorities for the first time after several years of fruitless disputes went to USA to meet one of their main claims: the introduction of the limit of 500 miles for flights over the region. Limit for inspection of the region, Russia imposed after a number of Western countries, in particular Poland, a significant part of the allowed flight range used for the observation of the Kaliningrad region.
“our partners were able, as they wish to photograph every meter of this region, we had for a long time shut off all regular civil and commercial air traffic there, which created serious difficulties,” — explained earlier, one of the interlocutors “Kommersant” in the government of the Russian Federation. In March, the Russian authorities have permitted foreign inspectors to go beyond these limits and, according to “Kommersant”, was ready to discuss with partners a more flexible scheme.
Elena Chernenko
