President Trump plans to withdraw from another major arms control agreement, the Open Skies treaty, multiple sources confirmed to The Hill on Thursday.
The Open Skies Treaty allows the pact’s 35 signatories, including the United States and Russia, to fly unarmed observation flights over each other with the intention of providing transparency about military activities to avoid miscalculations that could lead to war.
A senior administration official and a Senate aide confirmed the decision, which was first reported Thursday by The New York Times.
The treaty, which went into force in 2002, has long been in the crosshairs of defense hawks, who argue Russian violations give Moscow an unfair advantage over Washington.
Russia in the past has restricted flights over Kaliningrad and areas near its border with the Georgian regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.
Because of those restrictions, an April report from the State Department said “the United States continued to assess that Russia was in violation of the Treaty on Open Skies” in 2019, a determination first made in 2017.
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Last month, the same group of lawmakers released a statement warning that Trump could use the cover of the coronavirus pandemic to withdraw from the accord with little attention, saying such a move “in the midst of a global health crisis is not only shortsighted, but also unconscionable.”
“This effort appears intended to limit appropriate congressional consultation on, and scrutiny of, the decision,” House Armed Services Committee Chairman Adam Smith (D-Wash.), House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.), Senate Armed Services Committee ranking member Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.) and Senate Foreign Relations Committee ranking member Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) said in an April statement.
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The decision by Trump to withdraw from the treaty follows last year’s withdrawal from the Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, a decades-old Cold War arms control pact with Russia, over Moscow’s violations.
The latest move is likely to raise questions about Trump’s plans for New START, the last remaining arms control pact with Russia that is up for renewal in February.
- Discussion
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#BREAKING: Trump withdrawing from another major arms control treaty https://t.co/2q9jpHvlYl pic.twitter.com/vL4qSXMS9P
— The Hill (@thehill) May 21, 2020
General Hayden sums up our withdrawal from Open Skies. https://t.co/oaiWKh9FsT
— Tom Nichols (@RadioFreeTom) May 21, 2020
The world just got a little more dangerous. https://t.co/JdJK5c1mpV
— Tom Nichols (@RadioFreeTom) May 21, 2020
President Trump: "Russia and us have developed very good relationship." pic.twitter.com/P8otn7wiQp
— The Hill (@thehill) May 21, 2020
Less money and effort preventing nuclear war, and more preparation for conducting nuclear war. These guys are so thirsty for World War III. https://t.co/tT5SGn24YA
— Tom Nichols (@RadioFreeTom) May 21, 2020
Between this, Ratcliffe, and Open Skies, it's been a banner day… for the Russians. https://t.co/ohkzEh8OIn
— Tom Nichols (@RadioFreeTom) May 21, 2020And in case you're curious about the guy who just got confirmed to lead Voice of America, it's this guy:https://t.co/TXf1f7vY9q
And here's the current investigation into him in DC:https://t.co/tksVJwnAS1
A Bannon admirer in charge of VOA? Bad for US/NATO, good for Russia.
— Tom Nichols (@RadioFreeTom) May 21, 2020Oh, no. The guys who gave Jack Posobiec a "fellowship" are in a swivet because I think it's bad for America to have a Steve Bannon ally who's under investigation leading an organization – the Voice of America – that Donald Trump actively hates. Imagine my grief. https://t.co/YdAUKbsHDq
— Tom Nichols (@RadioFreeTom) May 21, 2020
Eliminating Open Skies cooperative monitoring flights would only hurt the United States and its friends and allies, not Russia. Here’s why: https://t.co/83FMA4vsnp
— Stimson Center (@StimsonCenter) May 21, 2020
The problem with arguments like this is that they assume a symmetry of interests and threats between us and Russia. Putin doesn't need a collection tool, *we* do, and so do our allies whose only source is us. This is the tradition of "treaties suck because they're treaties." https://t.co/vC2AjKgJYK
— Tom Nichols (@RadioFreeTom) May 21, 2020
If you like what Trump's just done on Open Skies, you'll love what he's going to do to New START, which will end inspections on both sides.
— Tom Nichols (@RadioFreeTom) May 21, 2020
"Let's give our enemies the high ground" is pretty much the guiding principle of this administration, and there's no one here who thinks Joe and I agree on very much, but we agree on this. https://t.co/Ah4luQ3cWx
— Tom Nichols (@RadioFreeTom) May 21, 2020
It's worse than that. Trump's constant shitshows has focused our attention on him – of course – and so we have lost track of what GOP opportunists are doing while no one is really paying attention in places like Defense, Justice, State, etc. https://t.co/tD8n2R2Nkz
— Tom Nichols (@RadioFreeTom) May 21, 2020
Reckless deal wrecking and the collapse of US leadership continues. The treaty benefits US and European security. Our allies value it and don't want us to leave. It has been an important tool for responding to Russia's aggression vs Ukraine. This is a propaganda coup for Moscow. https://t.co/DnidsszmA7
— Kingston Reif (@KingstonAReif) May 21, 2020
As I kept telling you, Trump has no idea what Open Skies is, or what it does. This is people on the Hill and lower levels in the administration making mischief while they still can. https://t.co/2OPJlMQEAm
— Tom Nichols (@RadioFreeTom) May 22, 2020
It's almost like NATO is in a place called "Europe," very close to Russia, @noonanjo, and the Russians are the ones who want to escape transparency. This plays to their home-court advantage and hurts our allies – which is why they wanted us to stay in it. https://t.co/2fJHIhLjzx
— Tom Nichols (@RadioFreeTom) May 22, 2020
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