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According to senior Trump administration officials, the US President. USA It has decided to withdraw from another major arms control agreement. On Friday, he will inform Russia that the United States is withdrawing from the Open Skies deal. This agreement was signed three decades ago, reports nytimes.com. “Open skies” allow states that have ratified the treaty to fly into each other’s territory and use sophisticated sensors to gather intelligence to ensure that a particular country is not preparing for military action.
Trump’s decision can be seen as further proof that he intends to withdraw from another major arms treaty, the NEW START, with Russia. According to New START, the United States and Russia can have a maximum of 1,550 nuclear missiles deployed each. The deal expires in February, a few weeks after the new president takes office. Trump urged China to ratify the New START, which limits the nuclear arsenal between the United States and Russia.
US officials have long complained that Moscow is violating the Open Skies Treaty by not allowing flights over a city where Russia is believed to have deployed nuclear weapons that could reach Europe. Russia is also banning the observation of large-scale military exercises by reconnaissance aircraft. (Satellites, the primary source of intelligence, are not covered by this agreement.)
“There comes a time when you have to say: enough,” said Marshall Billingslea, Trump’s new Special Representative for Arms Control. “The United States can no longer comply with this treaty if Russia intends to continue to violate with impunity.”
US officials also noted that D. Trump was angered by the flight of a Russian plane directly over his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, in 2017. In addition, the secret reports contain allegations by the Pentagon and US intelligence agencies that planes Russians are flying over the US USA And to detect critical infrastructure that could be compromised by cyber attacks.
Admittedly, much of this sensitive data is now publicly available, and network vulnerabilities are best detected online rather than from an airplane or space.
Trump’s long-rumored decision will no doubt further irritate the United States’ allies in Europe, including NATO signatories to the Open Skies Treaty.
Perhaps none of the 35 states that have ratified the treaty will withdraw, but they warned that, with Washington’s disappearance, Russia would almost certainly ban flights from the remaining parts of the treaty that monitor the movement of troops across the border (this information it is especially important for the Baltic states).
The American leader is abandoning a major arms control treaty for the third time. Two years ago, Trump pulled out of the Iran nuclear deal with his predecessor, Barack Obama. Last year, Trump withdrew from the Medium-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, again saying he had no intention of abiding by the treaty, which Russia is violating. The Open Skies Treaty was signed in 1992 by President George Herbert Walker Bush and Secretary of State James Baker after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
In 2002, a decade after its signing, the treaty entered into force. Taking photos with modern commercial satellites is not extremely expensive or complicated, but those photos do not replace information captured by reconnaissance aircraft sensors.
“The concept of the Open Skies Treaty, which emerged under the presidency of Dwight Eisenhower, includes providing information about the military intentions of other countries and building mutual trust,” said Billingslea, a Pentagon veteran of President George Walker, in an interview. He is seen as an advocate for the harsh relations with Russia. “But now the treaty is meaningless because Russia has violated it many times.”
He mentioned Russia’s actions that make it impossible for the United States to conduct large-scale military exercises over Kaliningrad, Georgia, and Russia. However, European countries see regular flights organized by the United States, the United Kingdom, and less powerful states as an important part of their continued relationship with Russia, even as Moscow increasingly blocks routes allowed by the agreement.
Russia has said the deal is beneficial, but Billingslea and his boss, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, disagree.
Under the terms of the treaty, the formal notification of Trump’s withdrawal to Russia and the other states that have ratified the treaty begins the six-month period until the final withdrawal. All signers must meet within 60 days.
Although US officials have not ruled out agreeing to and stopping the withdrawal, it is almost impossible. When the United States announced its withdrawal from the Mid-Range Nuclear Forces Agreement last year, there were no significant discussions during the same six-month period.
Conservatives have been pushing for Trump to withdraw from the Open Skies for some time, despite rumors of the President’s words about friendship with Vladimir Putin and the wish for good relations with Russia. Texas Senator Ted Cruz, a longtime advocate of the withdrawal, said in a statement: “The United States has had to withdraw from the treaty and stop allowing Russia to use its airspace to spy on the American population.”
“The transparency provided by the treaty has helped avoid miscalculations and misunderstandings that could have caused the conflict,” said John F. Tierney, a former Massachusetts state Democrat who is currently executive director of the Center for Gun Control. and Non-proliferation. “Withdrawals have become a reckless model for the Trump administration.”
Still, Open Skies is a relatively minor contract, and the fate of New START will be a much bigger issue.
Accused of persistent rape
Delfi previously reported that United States Secretary of Defense Mark Esper accused Russia of violating the Open Skies Treaty in March of this year.
Esper later told Congress that Russia had prevented the United States from operating flights over Kaliningrad to the Baltic Sea and near Sakartwell, although this must be allowed under the treaty, which was signed 18 years ago.
“We were also not allowed to fly over military exercises,” he said. “I am very concerned about this agreement in the current context.”
Esper later said he had raised the issue during a meeting with NATO defense ministers.
“It is important that many of our NATO allies have ways [tokiems] flights, “he said. Such Pentagon operations are carried out by two old OC-135 aircraft.
Esper recognized the need to modernize these planes, even if the Pentagon had not set aside funds for it.
“Right now, until we make a final decision on the way forward, I am not ready to provide more funding for the planes,” he said.
Moscow: Russia will comply with the Open Skies Treaty even after Washington withdraws
Russia will comply with the Open Skies Treaty until it expires, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushka confirmed on Friday in response to a statement by United States President Donald Trump that Washington is withdrawing from the pact.
“We need a pragmatic approach. As long as the agreement is valid, we intend to fully respect all the rights and obligations that apply to us under this agreement,” Gruška told RIA Novosti news agency.
On Thursday, Trump announced his intention to withdraw the United States from the Open Skies Agreement with Russia and 32 other countries. This is the third arms control agreement revoked by an American leader during his tenure.
According to A. Gruška, Russia’s behavior “is based on the assumption that all other countries do the same” and “takes a fair approach to the obligations of the parties to this agreement”.
A Russian diplomat said Thursday that Washington’s intention to withdraw from the Open Skies Pact would harm European security and the interests of the United States’ allies.
France: European countries regret the US withdrawal USA
France, Germany and eight other European countries said on Friday they “regretted” US President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw from the Open Skies Treaty.
“We regret that the United States has announced its plan to withdraw from the Open Skies Agreement, although we are concerned about the implementation of the agreement by the Russian Federation,” the parties said in a joint statement issued by the French Foreign Ministry.
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