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Russia preparing to leave Open Skies Treaty after US exit

Friday, 15 January 2021 2:01 PM [ Last Update: Friday, 15 January 2021 2:24 PM ]

A Russian Air Force plane flying over an airbase in Omaha, Nebraska, US, under the Treaty on Open Skies. (Photo by AP)

Russia says it is preparing to leave the Treaty on Open Skies, which allows reconnaissance flights over the participants’ entire territory, months after the United States unilaterally quit the key trust-building pact.

In a statement issued on Friday, the Russian Foreign Ministry said Washington’s exit from the treaty last year “significantly upended the balance of interests of signatory states.”

“Due to the lack of progress in negotiations around the continuation of the treaty under new circumstances, the Ministry is authorized to announce the start of preparations for withdrawal,” said the statement.

The statement criticized the US for “arrogantly” turning a cold shoulder to Moscow’s proposals for keeping the deal in place.

“Realizing that Washington would need counter-steps to address Russian concerns in order to reach an agreement, they interrupted the consultations and accused our country of ‘violations’ of the Treaty. These far-fetched accusations were used by them as a pretext first to propose ‘countermeasures’ and then to withdraw from the Treaty,” it said.

The Open Skies Treaty was designed to build trust between Russia and the Western states in the late Cold War-era by allowing its 34 member states to carry out aerial surveillance flights over each other’s entire territory, including military sites, to observe build-up of troops and movement of nuclear arms.

It was first proposed by then US President Dwight Eisenhower in 1955 and signed in 1992 by his successor, President George H.W. Bush, before formally coming into force in early 2002.

Trump formally withdraws US from Open Skies Treaty

The United States has withdrawn from the Open Skies Treaty that allows unarmed surveillance flights over member countries.

The US, however, withdrew from the treaty last November, accusing Russia of refusing to hold up to its side of the deal by denying flights over sensitive sites and military maneuvers, allegations that Moscow has roundly rejected.

Washington’s pullout came against the backdrop of similar moves by the administration of US President Donald Trump to quit major international agreements since he came to office in 2017.

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