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The United States continues to receive information from Open Skies Treaty signatory countries. At the same time, Russia does not, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told a press conference, explaining why Russian President Vladimir Putin has submitted to Parliament a bill to abandon the Open Skies Treaty (OSCT).
"The president himself, on more than one occasion, set out the arguments of the Russian side. It is that this whole system is based on the exchange of information. The US, although it left the Treaty (November 2020), receives information from the members of the Atlantic Alliance (...). So, in fact, it continues to receive information, while Russia does not," he told reporters.
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The Open Skies Treaty, signed in 1992 in Helsinki, allows military observers to conduct aerial surveillance flights to obtain images of troop and ship movements over a vast territory from the Canadian city of Vancouver to the port of Vladivostok in the Russian Far East.
The agreement, in force since 2002, currently involves 31 European countries plus Turkey and Canada. Most of them are NATO members.
In November 2020, Washington withdrew from the Open Skies Treaty, derailing the agreement on arms control. Now the Kremlin is planning to exit the treaty. #Openskies #Russia #USA #ColdWar pic.twitter.com/wkNWr8WdQF
— Press Plus (@pressplus_ptv) May 4, 2021
Russia began to disassociate itself from the Open Skies Treaty after the United States decided to leave it in 2020.
The Russian Foreign Ministry stated that after the U.S. exit from the ATT, "the balance of interests of the signatory states agreed during the signing of the Treaty was substantially called into question."
Moscow initially stated that it might review its decision if Washington showed signs of rejoining the agreement; otherwise, it would send to the ATT depositaries, Hungary and Canada, an official note announcing its formal withdrawal.
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