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A collapse by the United States destroys the global security architecture, allies say.
The United States has formally withdrawn from the Open Skies Treaty, which allows more than 30 member countries to fly over each other’s territories to build trust and prevent conflict.
The reason for the breakdown of the agreement in Washington is called systematic violations by Russia. The White House noted that the document no longer responds to the interests of the United States. Moscow in this regard has declared its sadness. Correspondent.net says the details.
Serious violations, sadness and threats
The United States is no longer a member of the treaty as, in accordance with its terms, it announced its withdrawal six months ago, the State Department said on November 22.
President Donald Trump announced his intention to withdraw from the Open Skies Treaty in 2019. On May 21, 2020, the State Department announced the launch of the exit process, explaining this step as a violation of the terms of the agreement by Moscow.
If Russia “fully complies with the treaty again,” the United States may change its decision, the State Department said. Six months after this announcement, the States formally withdrew their agreement.
The Trump administration has accused Russia of a “serious” violation of the treaty over the years, including in the area of gun control. Among the violations are the ban on flights over Moscow, Kaliningrad and Chechnya, near Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
It is also claimed that Russia is using information obtained under the treaty to direct conventional weapons at the infrastructure of the United States and European members of NATO, thus creating a national threat to these countries.
As noted by the television company CNN, European nations, including Ukraine, lobbied for the preservation of the treaty, seeing it as one of the foundations of their own national security.
“It was this treaty that was the decisive factor that forced Russia to invade Ukraine with small forces, so that it would not be so easy to detect them from the air,” CNN reported.
On November 22, explaining the reason for the withdrawal, US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo said that thanks to this, the United States would be more protected.
“Today, according to a previous notice, the withdrawal of the United States from the Open Skies Treaty has entered into force. Thanks to this, the United States is more protected since Russia remains in default,” Pompeo wrote on his Twitter page.
Russia regrets and believes that the US withdrawal makes the treaty unviable, said Dmitry Peskov, press secretary of the Russian president.
“Of course, it is sad that another instrument for maintaining global stability and security, the Open Skies Treaty, has fallen asleep thanks to the US decision,” said Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
Washington makes those decisions “as a model,” without providing any evidence of violations by Russia, Lavrov added. According to him, according to a similar scheme, the United States had previously withdrawn from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty.
The loss of the treaty threatens the security, first of all, of European countries, said the Russian minister, noting that European countries “avoid criticizing the United States.”
Moscow is ready to continue cooperation within the framework of this document, but for this, the remaining members of the agreement must “sacredly observe” two of its conditions, Lavrov stressed.
“Namely: the information that the participating countries receive during the overflights of each other’s territories is intended only for those that remain in the treaty. And secondly, when the territory is presented for inspection, there can be no withdrawals from it. territory, “said the diplomat. …
Russia will crack down on it if countries participating in the treaty transfer data from their observation flights to states, said Konstantin Gavrilov, head of the Russian delegation at the Vienna talks on military security and arms control.
Pentagon officials told CNN that the US military intends to share with its European allies certain intelligence information gathered by various outlets, including satellites. This will help them compensate for the loss of important data they received during the contracted flights.
But if America’s European allies supported the decision to withdraw from the INF Treaty, then they were against the American decision to withdraw from the Open Skies Treaty.
“Our position on this agreement has not changed; we consider the treaty to be an important part of the arms control architecture, a contribution to building mutual trust and security in the northern hemisphere from Vladivostok to Vancouver,” said the German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas, and noted that Germany will continue to abide by this agreement.
The Wall Street Journal notes that Trump’s decision could complicate options for US President-elect Joe Biden if he tries to renegotiate the deal.
Biden harshly criticized Trump for withdrawing from the treaty, saying the deal had strong allied support and that issues with Russia’s compliance with the treaty’s terms should be addressed through the treaty’s dispute resolution procedures.
However, the Democrat indicated whether he will attempt to re-enter a multilateral deal, and has more substantial priorities, including extending the START III nuclear weapons treaty and attempts to salvage and develop the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran, WSJ writes.
The question of whether the Biden administration can decide to rejoin the deal has already sparked legal debate. Trump administration officials say the legal hurdles will be insurmountable because the Senate will have to approve any request to rejoin the treaty with a two-thirds majority, the newspaper said.
Yet even if legal issues can be resolved, newspaper sources say, the Biden administration is likely to face opposition from Republicans in Congress over funding the treaty jets to rebuild and operate.
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