The United States of America has practically nothing to lose from withdrawing from the Open Skies Treaty - they have many “comrades” in the NATO military bloc, which will still be able to carry out reconnaissance flights over Russia. In an interview Federal News Agency director of the Institute for Political Studies Sergei Markov.
The interlocutor of the FAN agreed with the Deputy Foreign Minister of the Russian Federation Sergei Ryabkov, who, on the air of the TV program "Big Game" on Channel One, said, what, if, after the US withdraws from the treaty, it remains, "their allies, probably, find forms, how to share information. At the same time, Ryabkov noted, that such steps on the part of the pro-American parties to the agreement would be "extremely problematic from a political and legal point of view".
«Donald Trump pursues a consistent policy of withdrawing from all treaties that somehow bind the hands of the United States, Markov said.. - This has already happened with agreements on the elimination of intermediate and shorter-range missiles (DRSMD) and on measures to further reduce and limit strategic offensive arms (START-3). This is now their strategy in the international arena.".
Second and no less important, in his opinion, the reason is, that it is simply beneficial for the Americans.
“The essence of the Open Skies Treaty is, that all signatories may conduct reconnaissance flights over each other's territory, accompanied by a representative of the host, - said the expert. - Apparently, The United States no longer wants, so that our pilots take advantage of this opportunity. At the same time, the Americans themselves do not have to fly over it on their own to observe our territory - numerous satellites can do this for them, which are still in agreement".
In the same time, FAN interlocutor is convinced, Russia itself, even realizing all the cunning of the American side, will not come out of the Open Skies Treaty: otherwise, it will not be able to fly over EU countries, on whose territory the US military is also located, posing a real threat to the security of our country.
"So here, Unfortunately, it's nothing you can do, Markov acknowledged.. - But, having lost the ability to fly over the territory of the United States, we actually lost not so much. We have a fairly strong satellite constellation, the use of which can almost entirely compensate for the lack of information - but that it remains on top, the state should invest serious money in the development of the space industry".
Author: Ignat Startsev
