On Monday, Russia officially exited the Open Skies treaty as President Vladimir Putin signed a law formalizing its withdrawal in six months. The treaty —which was signed by 35 nations in 1992 and took effect in 2002— allows unarmed observation flights by member nations over other signatory countries.
This announcement follows the current US government’s decision in May not to re-join the agreement, which former President Trump left in 2020. As a presidential candidate, Biden criticized Trump’s decision to withdraw from the treaty, calling it “short-sighted”. However, since becoming President, Joe Biden has not expressed a reconsideration of the withdrawal.
The Open Skies Treaty was drawn up as a framework to encourage member states to gather information about each other’s territories and build trust through transparency. Through the treaty, member nations can maintain the integrity of and conformity to arms agreements by conducting surveillance flights over each other’s military facilities.
Upon its exit from the agreement, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova compiled a list of all violations of the Open Skies treaty by the US and Western nations. Zakharova claimed that the U.S. erected unnecessary legal and material barriers against Russia’s surveillance flights, notably in Alaska and the Aleutian Islands. Other accusations were levelled at member nations including the UK, Canada, and Norway for imposing restrictions on flight altitude, a measure which was not addressed by the treaty.
Tensions between the U.S. and Russia are relatively high in light of a recent weakening in diplomatic links between the two countries. Russia’s exit from the agreement leaves only one major arms control treaty between the two nations – the New START treaty, signed in 2010 by then-Presidents Obama and Medvedev, which regulates and reduces the number of strategic nuclear missile launchers deployed by the two countries.
Writer: Olaf Willner
Photo credits: Council on Foreign Relations