Russia seeks permission to fly spy planes over US

Russia will formally submit a request at the Open Skies Consultative Commission to fly an aircraft equipped with high-tech sensors over the US, according to a senior congressional staffer, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The request will put the Obama administration in the position of having to decide whether to let Russia use the high-powered equipment on its surveillance planes at a time when Moscow, according to the latest State Department compliance report, is failing to meet all its obligations under the Open Skies Treaty.

Russia and the US 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.

Washington's intelligence and military officials warned that such overflights will help Moscow collect intelligence on the US

Senior intelligence and military officials, however, worry that Russia is taking advantage of technological advances to violate the spirit of the treaty.

The move comes at one of the most tension-filled times in US-Russia relations since the end of the Cold War, with the both countries at odds over Russian activity in Ukraine and Syria.

"In addition to overflying military installations, Russian Open Skies flights can overfly and collect on Department of Defence and national security or national critical infrastructure," Cecil Haney, commander of the US Strategic Command said.

"The vulnerability exposed by exploitation of this data and costs of mitigation are increasingly difficult to characterise."

A State Department official said on Sunday that treaty nations had not yet received notice of the Russian request, but that certification of the Russian plane with a "digital electro-optical sensor" could not occur until this summer because the treaty requires a 120-day advance notification.

The official also said that the treaty, which was entered into force in 2002, establishes procedures for certifying digital sensors to confirm that they are compliant with treaty requirements.

The official said all signatories to the treaty agree that "transition from film cameras to digital sensors is required for the long-term viability of the treaty."

In December, Rose Gottemoeller, under secretary of state for arms control and international security, sought to temper concerns about Russian overflights, saying that what Moscow gains from the observation flights is "incremental" to what they collect through other means.

"One of the advantages of the Open Skies Treaty is that information — imagery — that is taken is shared openly among all the treaty parties," she said at a joint hearing of the House Foreign Affairs and Armed Services committees in December.

"So one of the advantages with the Open Skies Treaty is that we know exactly what the Russians are imaging, because they must share the imagery with us."

One of the advantages with the Open Skies Treaty is that we know exactly what the Russians are imaging, because they must share the imagery with us

Still, military and intelligence officials have expressed serious concern.

"We think that they're going beyond the original intent of the treaty and we continue to look at this very, very closely," Robert Work, deputy secretary of defence said. 

Steve Rademaker, former assistant secretary of state said Russia is "selectively implementing" the treaty "in a way that suits its interests."