AFTER U.S. QUIT OPEN SKIES TREATY LAST YEAR, PUTIN FORMALLY SEEKS TO PULL OUT OF IT
Russian President Vladimir Putin has submitted to parliament draft legislation that would see the country withdraw from the Open Skies treaty after Washington quit the key postcold War defence accord last year.
Moscow announced in midjanuary it would withdraw from the treaty, which allows signatories to carry out unarmed surveillance flights over each other’s territories. It cited a “lack of progress” on maintaining the functioning of the treaty after the US withdrew from it last year.
A government database showed on Tuesday that Putin has submitted the bill exiting the treaty to parliament. A note accompanying it said the treaty had helped “to significantly strengthen trust in the defence sphere”, adding that the US withdrawal “upset the balance of interests” of signatory states.
“Serious damage has been dealt to the observance of the treaty and its role in strengthening trust and transparency,” the note also said, adding that as a result Russia’s national security was under threat.
The agreement was signed soon after the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1992 and came into force in 2002.
The treaty allowed its nearly three dozen signatories to carry out short-notice flights over one another’s territory to monitor potential military operations.
Members include countries across Europe, the former Soviet Union and Canada.
Moscow and Washington had long accused each other of breaching the terms of the pact, and US pulled out of the agreement last November.
The pact also allows its members to request copies of images taken during surveillance flights carried out by other members.