Unarmed Russian Air Force jet flies over Washington sites as part of Open Skies Treaty

icholakov/iStock/Thinkstock(WASHINGTON) — An unarmed Russian Air Force jet flew over a number of Washington, D.C. locations on Wednesday as part of the Open Skies Treaty, which allows unarmed surveillance flights over the territory of its 34 participating nations.

ABC News has confirmed that the jet flew over the Pentagon, the Capitol Building, the White House and the CIA building on Wednesday. Missions under the Open Skies treaty typically involve several flights over a span of multiple days.

According to flight data obtained from aircraft monitoring website Flightradar24, the Russian aircraft, a Tupolev TU-154M, took off from Dayton, Ohio, Wednesday morning.

A second flight, which took off from Dayton in the afternoon, shows the aircraft flying over Bedminster, New Jersey, where President Trump is taking a working vacation during White House renovations.

A U.S. official told ABC News that Russians often fly Open Skies missions over key locations. “They come here just like we go there,” the official added. “It’s a mutually agreed process.”

Per instructions in the Open Skies Treaty, the aircraft flown on the missions use specific film equipment aboard the planes to take aerial photos.

The U.S. flies the OC-135B aircraft when it conducts these same missions over Russia and other countries.

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