Russia Withdraws from Open Skies Treaty

On 15th January, 2021, Russia announced its intention of pulling out of the Open Skies treaty (OST), saying that the pact, which allows unarmed surveillance flights over member countries, had been seriously compromised by the withdrawal of the United States.

Reasons for Russia’s Withdrawal

  • Reluctance to Allow Flights Over its Exclave: Russia is reluctant to allow flights over Kaliningrad, its exclave in Eastern Europe that sits between North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) allies Lithuania and Poland.
  • Sharing of Intelligence: Russia has raised concerns that despite leaving the treaty the US could potentially retain access to overflight intelligence gathered by its allies who remain members in the treaty.
  • Non-compliant NATO Members: After the US left the OST, Russia sought assurances from NATO allies who continued to remain on the treaty, not to transfer data collected by their flights over Russia to Washington. But Russia’s request was not backed by the NATO members, prompting it to leave the treaty.

Reasons for US’ Withdrawal

  • Continuous Non-compliance by Russia: US had for over a decade 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.
  • Risk to the US Critical Infrastructure: Russia had been using its own overflights of American and European territory to identify critical U.S. infrastructure for potential attack in time of war.

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