Recently, Russia announced that it was leaving the Open Skies Treaty (OST), an accord between over 30 countries that allows participants to fly unarmed reconnaissance flights over any part of their fellow member states.
This move was made after the USA pulled out of the Open Skies Treaty in November 2020, arguing that Russian violations made it untenable for the United States to remain a party.
About Open Skies Treaty
- It was first proposed by USA in 1955 to deescalate tensions during the Cold War.
- This treaty was eventually signed in 1992 between NATO members and former Warsaw Pact countries following the demise of the Soviet Union. It finally came into effect in 2002.
- The Warsaw Pact (1955) was signed between Russia and her satellite states shortly after West Germany was admitted to NATO.
- The Pact was a mutual defense agreement, which the Western countries perceived as a reaction against West Germany’s membership of NATO.
- It went into effect in 2002 and had 35 signatories, including key players US and Russia, along with one non-ratifying member that is Kyrgyzstan.
- The OST aims at building confidence among its 34 signatories countries through mutual openness, thus reducing the chances of accidental war.
- The information gathered, such as on troop movements, military exercises and missile deployments, has to be shared with all member states.
Reasons for USA’s exit
- The USA had for over a decade accused Russia of non-compliance with OST protocols, blaming Moscow of obstructing surveillance flights on its territory, while misusing its own missions for gathering key tactical data.
- The USA also accused Russia of designating an airfield in the annexed Crimean Peninsula as an Open Skies refueling base as an illegal attempt by Russia to cement its claim to the Ukrainian region.
- Russia misused its flights over the USA and Europe to identify critical infrastructure for potential attack in a time of war.
Reasons for Russia’s exit
- Russia defends its non compliance with the OST to allow flights over Kaliningrad (Russian exclave in Eastern Europe that lies between NATO allies Lithuania and Poland) citing the example of the US imposing similar limits on flights over Alaska.
- After USA withdrawal from OST, Russia did not get the sought assurance from North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) allies who continued to remain on the treaty that they would not transfer data collected by their flights over Russia to Washington (USA).
The failure of the Open Skies Treaty follows the demise of another significant arms control accord, the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, after both the US and Russia left it in 2019. Withdrawal of the USA and Russia from OST has further deepened doubts on extension of the New START treaty, which expires in February, 2021. Russia’s departure could adversely impact Washington’s European allies, which rely on OST data to track Russian troop movements in the Baltic region.
