US tells Russia it won’t rejoin Open Skies
arms control pact
Matthew Lee, The Associated Press
4 days ago
16
Two Offutt-based OC-135B jets are shown parked Thursday, March 11, 2021, in Lincoln, Neb. (Chris Machian/Omaha World-Herald via AP)
WASHINGTON — The Biden
administration informed Russia on Thursday that it will not rejoin a key arms
control pact, even as the two sides prepare for a summit next month between
their leaders.
U.S. officials said Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman told the
Russians that the administration had decided not to reenter the Open Skies
Treaty, which had allowed surveillance flights over military facilities in both
countries but that former President Donald Trump had withdrawn from.
Thursday’s decision means only one major arms control treaty between
the nuclear powers — the New START treaty — remains in place.
Trump had done nothing to extend New START, which would have expired earlier
this year, but after taking office the Biden administration moved quickly to
extend it for five years and opened a review into the Open Skies Treaty
withdrawal.
The officials said the review had been completed and that Sherman had
informed Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov of the U.S. decision
not to return to Open Skies on Thursday. The officials were not authorized to
discuss the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.
The move comes just weeks before President Joe Biden and Russian
President Vladimir Putin are to meet on June 16 in Geneva, Switzerland, in a
bid to try to find common ground amid a sharp deterioration in ties that have
sunk relations to their lowest point in decades.
The Open Skies Treaty was intended to build trust between Russia and
the West by allowing the accord’s more than three dozen signatories to conduct
reconnaissance flights over each other’s territories to collect information
about military forces and activities. More than 1,500 flights have been
conducted under the treaty since it took effect in 2002, aimed at fostering
transparency and allowing for the monitoring of arms control and other
agreements.
The Trump administration announced the U.S. withdrawal from the treaty last year, and the lower house
of Russia’s parliament voted last week to follow suit. But, until Thursday the
two sides had said the treaty could still be salvaged with Russian officials
saying they were willing to reconsider their withdrawal if the U.S. did the
same.
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