The decision was feared by allies of the United States, Donald Trump confirmed it Thursday, May 21 before leaving the White House for a trip to Michigan. Washington is going to withdraw from the Open Skies Treaty which consolidates the arms control system by allowing its signatories, starting with the United States and Russia, to reciprocal overflights of territories.
As with the withdrawal of the mid-range weapons treaty in 2018, Donald Trump highlighted Moscow's attitude. "Russia has not respected the treaty, so as long as it does not respect it, we will withdraw from it", assured the President of the United States. Praising the quality of his relationship with his counterpart Vladimir Putin, Donald Trump hoped that a new negotiation could allow, in the future, to keep part of the architecture of arms control.
Born of the will of the American president George HW Bush who had laid down its principles in 1989 in the last years of the Soviet Union, the treaty called into question Thursday did not come into force until 2002. The opening of the airspace for mutual recognition flights that it allows today concerns the 34 countries signatory to the agreements of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe.
Russian flights on essential US infrastructure
There are many alleged wrongdoings against Russia, starting with its opposition to the overflights of secessionist republics of Georgia supported by Moscow. Critics of the treaty also argue that it has lost its importance with satellite surveillance that is not affected by the text.
According to New York Times, who unveiled the American decision a few hours before Donald Trump, the latter would have been irritated by a Russian flight over his golf course in Bedminster, New Jersey, in 2017. The Pentagon and the American intelligence agencies affirmed in Classified reports that the Russians are also using their flights over the United States to map critical American infrastructure.
Advocates of the treaty in the United States, including the United States Congress, attempted to make any decision to withdraw a lengthy process. The latter could delay its application beyond the presidential election in November. Donald Trump did not release a specific schedule Thursday morning.
This new withdrawal precedes the expiration of the last major American-Russian agreement, the New Start (for Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty), concerning their respective arsenals. This nuclear weapons treaty entered into force in February 2011 for a period of ten years. It will expire just after the swearing in of the person who wins the presidential election in November.
The renegotiation of this treaty mentioned by Donald Trump looks particularly difficult because Washington wants it to also extend to China, given its rise in military power. However, Beijing has so far shown no interest in this approach, and current tensions with the United States in the context of the health crisis caused by the Covid-19 can hardly make it change its attitude.
