Open Skies Treaty By

The treaty on open skies entered into force on january 1 2002 and currently has 34 party states.

Open skies treaty by. The treaty is designed to enhance mutual understanding and confidence by giving all participants regardless of size a direct role in gathering information about military forces and. On may 22 2020 the united states exercised its right pursuant to paragraph 2 of article xv of the treaty on open skies by providing notice to the treaty depositaries and to all states parties of its decision to withdraw from the treaty effective six months from the notification date. The open skies consultative commission oscc comprised of representatives of all states parties is responsible for the implementation of the open skies treaty. Specifically they ve blamed moscow for preventing surveillance flights from happening over russia.

The oscc considers matters of treaty compliance decides on treaty membership distributes active quotas and deals with any questions that may arise during the implementation of the treaty. The treaty established a regime of unarmed observation flights over the territories of state parties. While initially imagined as a key part of multiple arms control deals for over a decade many in washington believe russia is in regular non compliance with ost protocols. Organization for security and co operation in europe.

It specifies inter alia quotas for observation flights. The trump administration is expected to pull out of the open skies treaty which allows unarmed surveillance flights over american russian and several other countries territories in a. The idea of allowing other countries surveillance aircraft to conduct flyovers was first proposed by president dwight eisenhower. The open skies treaty was meant to contribute to international security but it has been twisted and perverted in its implementation and now serves russian purposes inimical to that security.

The treaty on open skies was signed in march 1992 in helsinki by 23 member nations of the organization for security and cooperation in europe osce. We understand that many of our allies and partners in europe still find value in the treaty and we are grateful for the thoughtful feedback they have offered us during the course of our review of these. Treaty on open skies.