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Trump Plans Another Gift to Putin Via U.S. Withdrawal from Open Skies Treaty
The Open Skies Treaty is not something you have ever heard of most likely. It is a post-Cold War agreement that allows countries to operate reconnaissance flights over other nations and collect data on military activities with the aim of building trust between countries. Since coming into force in 2002, the treaty has become a key tool for the U.S. and its European allies to monitor Russian military deployments to former Soviet satellite countries, including Russian aggression in Ukraine.
Four senior Democratic lawmakers said on Tuesday [10/8/19] they believed the Trump administration may withdraw from a treaty that allows unarmed surveillance flights over U.S., Russian and other territory, warning it would be a gift to Russia and undermine confidence in the U.S. commitment to Ukraine.
"Pulling out of the Open Skies Treaty, an important multilateral arms control agreement, would be yet another gift from the Trump administration to (Russian President Vladimir) Putin," the Democrats on the House and Senate foreign relations and armed services committees wrote in a letter to the U.S. secretaries of state and defense.
Trump is owned by Putin. We know this as fact. "The United States should prepare for the challenge that Russia presents—not abandon mechanisms that provide the United States with an important tool in maintaining surveillance on Russia.”
The treaty, which was signed in 1992 and entered into force in 2002, permits each of the nations that are parties to it to carry out short-notice, unarmed surveillance flights over the entire territory of the other parties.
The purpose of the treaty, which allows nations to collect information on each other's military forces, is to increase transparency and to build confidence among the states that are party to it, including the United States, Russia and Ukraine.
The State Department and the Pentagon did not immediately reply to a request for comment.