WASHINGTON — A low-flying Russian airplane created a buzz in the nation’s capital on Wednesday, but it turns out the surveillance flight over the Capitol, Pentagon and other sites was cleared by the U.S. government under a long-standing global treaty. The flight, which was filmed by The Associated Press, was permitted under the Open Skies Treaty. Russia and the United States are signatories to the treaty, which allows unarmed observation flights over the entire territory of all 34 member nations. Dan Gaffney, a spokesman for the Pentagon, said he could not confirm the path of the plane until its mission was over. After each flight, the host nation gets a copy of any imagery taken by the observation aircraft.

Source: National Post August 09, 2017 22:41 UTC