Russia leaves Open Skies Treaty

  • Russia announced that it was leaving the Open Skies Treaty (OST).
  • In November, the United States had left the OST first after accusing Russia of violating the pact– allegations that Russia denied. 
  • US accused Russia of non-compliance with OST protocols, blaming Moscow of obstructing surveillance flights on its territory, while misusing its own missions for gathering key tactical data.
  • Moscow has now blamed Washington for its own decision of leaving the treaty.

OPEN SKIES TREATY

  • The concept of "mutual aerial observation" was initially proposed to Soviet Premier Nikolai Bulganin at the Geneva Conference of 1955 by President Dwight D. Eisenhower.
  • The treaty was signed in 1992 in Helsinki, Finland between NATO members and former Warsaw Pact countries.
  • It came into effect in 2002.
  • The treaty currently has 35 signatories along with one non-ratifying member (Kyrgyzstan).
  • India is not a member of this treaty.

PROVISIONS

  • It is an agreement that allows its 35 signatories countries to monitor arm development by conducting surveillance flights (unarmed) over each other’s territories.
  • A country can undertake aerial imaging over the host state after giving notice 72 hours before, and sharing its exact flight path 24 hours before.
  • The information gathered, such as on troop movements, military exercises and missile deployments, has to be shared with all member states. 
  • Only approved imaging equipment is permitted on the surveillance flights, and officials from the host state can also stay on board throughout the planned journey.

IRNFT

  • The failure of the Open Skies Treaty follows the demise of another significant arms control accord, the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, after both the US and Russia left it in 2019.
  • It was a nuclear arms-control accord reached by the United States and the Soviet Union in 1987 in which the two nations agreed to eliminate their stocks of intermediate-range and shorter-range (or “medium-range”) land-based missile but did not cover sea-launched missiles.

START TREATY

  • There is also worry about the fate of the much larger US-Russia ‘New START’ nuclear arms control agreement, which is to expire on February 5, 2021. 
  • However, US president-elect Joe Biden, has spoken in favour of preserving the treaty, as opposed to outgoing President Trump.
  • The new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) is a treaty between the United States of America and the Russian Federation on measures for the further reduction and limitation of strategic offensive arms.
  • It entered into force on 5th February, 2011.
  • It was a successor to the START framework of 1991 (at the end of the Cold War) that limited both sides to 1,600 strategic delivery vehicles and 6,000 warheads. 

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