Russia formally exits from Open Skies pact with US after Putin's approval
NATO on Biden's mind
In a landmark move, President Vladimir Putin on Monday signed a legislation which signalled the formal exit of Russia from the 1992 Open Skies arms control treaty.
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The development came after the Biden administration last month had informed the Russian government that it wouldn't reenter the pact after the former Trump administration pulled out of it last year.
President Putin and Biden as set to meet at a summit in Geneva on June 16 this month, however, the US decision was communicated to Russian officials earlier.
The Open Skies treaty which had come into effect on January 1, 2002, allowed both countries to conduct unarmed surveillance flights over military installations in a bid to ensure friendly terms between the two world powers.
There were 34 other countries who had signed the deal and was put forward by George H. W. Bush's administration in 1992 and was signed in Helsinki by former US secretary of state James Baker along with 23 countries.
The Biden administration had earlier extended New START treaty by five years after the Trump did not extend it.
The US in a statement earlier had said: “The United States regrets that the Treaty on Open Skies has been undermined by Russia’s violations. In concluding its review of the treaty, the United States, therefore, does not intend to seek to rejoin it, given Russia’s failure to take any actions to return to compliance."
"Further, Russia’s behaviour, including its recent actions with respect to Ukraine, is not that of a partner committed to confidence-building,” the US statement added.
The Open Skies treaty was meant to allow militaries of both nations to monitor each other's activities in a transparent and friendly manner. However, the Trump administration had pulled out of the Open Skies treaty citing violations from the Russian side.
Russia's lower house earlier voted to exit from the treaty and the upper house reached the same verdict allowing Putin to put his stamp on Russia's exit from the post-cold war treaty.
Russian news agency TAAS had said it was "another political mistake, inflicting a new blow to the European security system" after the US government led by President Bident had decided not to reenter the deal.
The Kremlin said the US decision was a "threat to Russia’s national security" which upset the "balance of interests" leading the Russian government to also pull out of it.