Russia announced today (15) that it would withdraw from the Open Skies Treaty of the European Security and Cooperation Organization (OSCE), a multilateral treaty for transparency and arms control already abandoned by the United States.
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“Due to lack of progress overcoming barriers to preserving the treaty, the Russian Foreign Ministry announced the beginning of internal procedures for the withdrawal of the Russian Federation from the open skies treaty,” it said in a statement Having said. Russian diplomacy continues today.
The International Free Skies Treaty allows for flights of comments on military installations between signatory countries.
The United States abandoned the treaty on 22 November and the Russian position announced today was already predictable.
The treaty sought to establish a basis of trust between Russia and the West by allowing reconnaissance flights between more than thirty countries to collect military intelligence.
In May 2020, outgoing US President Donald Trump announced Washington’s intention to withdraw the United States from the treaty, arguing a breach by Russia, which failed in November.
Moscow has repeatedly denied violations of the treaty with the European Union in 2002, urging the United States to reconsider the withdrawal of the treaty.
At the time, Moscow said that Washington’s withdrawal made it more difficult for governments to interpret the intentions of other states by influencing global security, and especially tensions between Russia and the West.
