Trump Pulls Out of Transparency Treaty With Russia and Europe

The Department of State said Sunday that the U.S. had officially withdrawn from the Open Skies Treaty, which went into effect nearly two decades ago. President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo both announced on May 21 that the U.S. intended to exit the agreement, according to The Associated Press.

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“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,” State Department spokesperson Cale Brown said in a statement Sunday.

Pompeo said that the continued U.S. involvement in Open Skies was untenable because of Russia’s continued violations of the treaty in a May statement. He added that the U.S. has consistently lived up to its commitments in the agreements.

“Russia’s implementation and violation of Open Skies, however, has undermined this central confidence-building function of the Treaty — and has, in fact, fueled distrust and threats to our national security — making continued U.S. participation untenable,” Pompeo said.

Democrats have of course stated that this is a violation of domestic law and NATO remained committed to the treaty despite this statement from May: “Russia has for many years imposed flight restrictions inconsistent with the Treaty, including flight limitations over Kaliningrad, and restricting flights in Russia near its border with Georgia.”