Russia Withdraws from Open Skies Treaty
Why in News?
• Russia has announced that it was pulling out of the Open Skies Treaty, saying that the pact had been seriously compromised by the withdrawal of the United States. Open Skies Treaty (OST):
• OST is an agreement that allows countries to monitor signatories’ arms development by conducting surveillance flights over each other’s territories.
• The idea behind the OST was first proposed in the early years of the Cold War by former U.S. President Dwight Eisenhower.
• It came to existence decades later and was signed in 1992, during the George H.W. Bush presidency and after the Soviet Union had collapsed.
• The OST came into effect in 2002 under the George W. Bush administration and it allows its 34 signatories to conduct unarmed reconnaissance flights over the territory of treaty countries. Issues with the OST:
• The U.S. has used the treaty more intensively than Russia.
• Between 2002 and 2016, the U.S. flew 196 flights over Russia (in addition to having imagery from Other Countries) compared to the 71 flights flown by Russia.
