Treaty on Open Skies

"Russia has informed all signatories of the agreement about the decision to withdraw from the Open Skies Agreement six months after the announcement of its exit. Therefore, our exit will take place on December 18," the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement for the TASS Agency.

The Duma, the lower house of the Russian parliament, unanimously adopted this law on May 19, followed by the decision of the Senate, which confirmed the decision on June 2.

The US has told Russia it will not rejoin an arms control deal that permits unarmed aerial flights over dozens of participating countries.

The state department said the Open Skies Treaty "has been undermined by Russia's violations" and its failure to return to compliance.

Russia denies the allegations, and the country is also expected to withdraw from the treaty this year.

Russia is launching domestic procedures to withdraw from the Treaty on Open Skies, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Friday.

Russia decided to do so due to the lack of any progress on the issue of removing the obstacles that have been created so far and that hinder its functionality.
As it is stated, as soon as all internal procedures are completed, the notification will be sent to all other participants in the Agreement.

With the pact under threat, Turkey wants to see continuation of the Open Skies Treaty for global stability and security, the country's Foreign Ministry said on May 23. 

"The Open Skies Treaty, which Turkey is a party to, is one of the main pillars of Euro-Atlantic conventional security architecture," ministry spokesperson Hami Aksoy said in a written statement.

The Trump administration notified international partners on May 21 that it's pulling out of a treaty that permits 30-plus nations to conduct unarmed, observation flights over each other's territory overflights initially set up to promote trust and avert conflict between the U.S. and Russia.

Russia has threatened to retaliate against the US in a row over the Open Skies Treaty that allows military observation flights over each other's territory.

Previously, the US accused Russia of violating the agreement, and threatened to take measures against Moscow.

The Turkish Foreign Ministry has dismissed accusations from the Russian Defense Ministry, which accused Ankara of breaching the Open Skies Treaty by refusing to allow a reconnaissance plane to fly over Turkish territory near Syria. 

Russia is due to conduct observation flights over Turkish territory on Feb. 1-5, under the framework of the Treaty on Open Skies, the Turkish General Staff has announced. The flights come days after Turkey said a Russian SU-34 jet had violated its airspace on Jan. 29 despite warnings, once more stoking tensions between two countries supporting opposite sides in Syria's war.