Soviet teams in Washington | ||
General
Medvedev (c.) and team at U.S. Capitol. In the U.S. Capitol Rotunda. In the Old Senate Gallery, U.S. Capitol. |
In accordance with the INF Treaty, every on-site inspection began with a pre-inspection briefing. Here two Soviet escort officers examine the briefing materials which included site diagrams, local safety problems, and a statement of the INF missiles or equipment at that site. |
From
Tokyo, they went to Yokota Air Base, site of OSIA's
gateway office, where they rested after the initial
10,880-kilometer leg of the journey. After final mission
preparations, the team flew 3,000 kilometers on a USAF
C-141 aircraft from Yokota to Ulan-Ude, the treaty's
eastern point of entry into the USSR. Ulan-Ude is a city
of 370,000 people near Lake Baikal. When the American
team arrived they were met by Captain James Connell, U.S.
Navy Reserve, who was the OSIA representative.22 Fluent in
Russian and knowledgeable about the INF Treaty, Captain
Connell assisted the American inspectors and aircrew
members with meals and hotel accommodations in Ulan-Ude.
One day after arriving, Colonel Troyan's team,
accompanied by a Soviet escort team, boarded an Aeroflot
aircraft for the 2,400-kilometer flight to Alma Ata in
Kazakhstan, where they were transported by bus to the
Soviet elimination site at Saryozek.23 After approximately two weeks of monitoring the elimination of SS-12 missiles at Saryozek, Troyan's inspection team returned to Ulan-Ude and then departed immediately for Kansk, a Soviet SS-20 elimination site located approximately 1,100 kilometers to the north, in central Siberia. After two weeks of monitoring the launch-to-destruction of SS-20 missiles and another trip to Ulan-Ude, the team was directed to go to Novosysoyevka for the closeout inspection. Accompanied by their Soviet escorts, the travel-weary American team flew east 2,120 kilometers to Vladivostok in the Pacific maritime province. The American inspection team then went by bus again along the valley of the Sikote-Alin Mountains and back through a dense deciduous forest to the former Soviet SS-12 missile base at Novosysoyevka. There they conducted their on-site closeout inspection. Once the treaty inspection reports had been signed and exchanged, the American team began its long trip home. In all, by the time they returned to Washington, Colonel Troyan and his team members had traveled more than 37,000 kilometers, or 23,000 miles, in five weeks.24 |
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