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The United States has officially abandoned the Open Skies Treaty, a multilateral agreement on transparency in arms control, accusing Russia of “perverting” the pact, the US State Department confirmed Sunday.
“The United States is no longer a party to the Open Skies Treaty,” reads the brief statement from the Department led by Mike Pompeo, about six months after outgoing President Donald Trump announced his decision to break the treaty. , despite the objections raised by the European allies, who fear that the decision will lead Russia to also prohibit the overflowing of its territory by the Baltic countries, useful for controlling movements.
This agreement of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), in force since 2002, allows its member states to fly over any part of the territory of other participants, taking photographs from the air, to ensure that their neighbors or rivals they are not preparing for military attacks.
The argument put forward by the United States for the withdrawal is that Russia prevents them from controlling their military exercises from the air and does not allow flights over regions where Moscow is believed to have nuclear weapons that can reach Europe, that is, in and around Kaliningrad. from the Georgian separatist regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
The US secret services also believe that Russia may be using its flights on US soil to identify US infrastructure that may be vulnerable to cyberattacks.
Russia’s reaction did not delay and came via Twitter by the Russian ambassador to international organizations in Vienna, Mikhail Ulyanov.
“As of today, the United States is no longer a party to the Open Skies Treaty. Significant development. Let us not forget that the participation of the United States was a precondition for the entry into force of the Treaty. Now the question is what will Russia do? All options are open at this stage, “wrote the diplomat.
Germany also commented on the US withdrawal from the international pact, with Foreign Minister Heiko Maas “deeply” regretting the US withdrawal. However, the German diplomatic leader stressed that the German position “on the treaty does not change “and maintains the commitment to an agreement considered” essential “.
Heiko Maas added that Germany also advocates a “comprehensive modernization of conventional arms control in Europe” and emphasizes that this requires “adapting existing multilateral agreements” and “creating new mechanisms to build mutual trust” in order to be prepared for the challenges to peace and security in this century.
Although the presidency of the United States passed to Joe Biden in January, following the victory over Trump in the elections on November 3, it is not yet clear that the Democrat wants to return the country to the treaty.
On the other hand, the president-elect’s arms control priorities include extending the New Start nuclear weapons deal with Russia and salvaging the Nuclear Deal with Iran.
