President Trump plans to inform Russia on Friday that the United States will pull out of the three-decadeslong Open Skies Treaty.
Under Open Skies, participating nations can use unarmed aerial surveillance to fly over each others’ territories to make sure they are not preparing for any military action. The treaty was negotiated in 1992 by President George H.W. Bush and Secretary of State James Baker after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Trump told reporters before departing the White House for Michigan on Thursday that he believes once the U.S. pulls out of the deal, Russia will want to renegotiate a new agreement because the countries have a “very good relationship.”
“Russia didn’t adhere to the treaty, so until they adhere, we will pull out,” Trump said. “There’s a very good chance we’ll make a new agreement or do something to put that agreement back together.”
The president said he does not think pulling out will increase tensions with Russia and that the U.S. will continue to pull out of treaties its international counterparts do not adhere to.
“Whenever there’s an agreement that another party doesn’t agree to — you know, we have many of those agreements around the world where it’s a two-party agreement, but they don’t adhere to it, and we do — when we have things like that, we pull out,” Trump said.
In classified reports, the Pentagon and other U.S. intelligence agencies have argued that Russians are issuing flights over the U.S. to map out critical infrastructure that could be hit by cyberattacks, the New York Times reported hours before Trump’s gaggle with the press. U.S. officials also reportedly said Trump was angered by a Russian aircraft flying directly over one of his golf estates in New Jersey in 2017.
Some lawmakers have also spoken out about the deal, claiming Russia has continuously violated the treaty by not permitting flights over a city where it is believed the country was deploying nuclear weapons that could reach Europe. Russia also reportedly forbid flights over its own military exercises. Sen. Tom Cotton, who sits on the Senate Armed Services Committee, called for Trump to withdraw from the treaty in 2018.
“The Open Skies Treaty is out of date and favors Russia, and the best way forward is to leave it,” the Arkansas Republican said at the time.
The retreat will mark the third time Trump has renounced a major arms control treaty since he’s been in office.
In 2018, Trump pulled the U.S. out of the Iran nuclear deal, which was negotiated under President Barack Obama, and lifted economic sanctions on Iran in exchange for the nation dismantling a large section of its nuclear weapons program. Last year, the U.S. also left the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces treaty, signed in 1987 by President Ronald Reagan and Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev, over concerns that Russia was violating it.
