The United States Officially Withdraws from the Open Skies Treaty

The United States officially withdrew from the Open Skies Treaty yesterday, a pact involving 35 countries. The decision was announced by the United States six months ago. Washington accused Russia of violating the treaty by banning flights near Kaliningrad, along the Georgian border, and in areas where large military exercises take place, claiming it was also 'abusing' the treaty to gather information about U.S. infrastructure.

The treaty, signed in 1992, allows participants to conduct flights over each other's territories for mutual military transparency regarding forces and arms. The information gathered from these flights is made available to all parties involved in the treaty.

In this context, just days ago, the Russian Foreign Ministry expressed hope that the countries remaining in the agreement would cease providing data to the United States.