US Decides to Withdraw from Open Skies Treaty

Updated : Trump confirms US withdrawal from Open Skies Treaty.

American President Donald Trump has decided to withdraw the United States from the Open Skies Treaty . This was reported by The New York Times , The Washington Post , Associated Press and other media outlets, citing sources in the Trump administration.

The Trump administration, on his instructions, reportedly spent eight months analyzing the costs and benefits of U.S. participation in the treaty and concluded that it was better for the country to withdraw from the agreement.

The main reason for the US withdrawal from the treaty was said to be cases of its violation by Russia. In particular, the fact that Russia banned observation flights over Moscow, Chechnya and the Kaliningrad region.

The United States will withdraw from the treaty in six months. This week, it began notifying other countries participating in the agreement of its decision. Russia will be officially informed of this on May 22.

It became known in 2019 that the United States was considering withdrawing from the Open Skies Treaty.

• This is the third major international treaty that the US has withdrawn from since Donald Trump came to power. In 2018, the country withdrew from the Iran nuclear deal , and in 2019, from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty . In the latter case, the US also accused Russia of violating the agreement.