The agreement withdrew by former President Trump allowed surveillance flights on the military installations of the two countries.

America tells Russia It will not rejoin on Thursday Open sky According to reports, a U.S. official stated that the arms control agreement allows unarmed surveillance flights in member states.

The Associated Press quoted an unnamed U.S. official as saying that Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman told the Russians that the Biden administration had decided not to rejoin the treaty, which allowed President Donald Trump to withdraw. The former conducted surveillance flights on the military installations of the two countries. treaty.

Thursday’s decision means that there is only one major arms control treaty between the nuclear powers-the new “Disarmament Treaty” will continue to exist. Trump did not take any measures to extend the new “START”, the agreement will expire earlier this year, but after Biden came to power, the Biden administration quickly took action to extend it for five years, and gave Trump a complaint. The revocation of the “Open Skies Treaty” was reviewed.

Officials said the review has been completed and Sherman has notified Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov (Sergei Ryabkov) that the United States has decided not to return to the open skies on Thursday. These officials have no right to discuss the matter publicly and speak anonymously.

The move took place before President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin met in Geneva, Switzerland on June 16. When the relationship has deteriorated sharply, and the relationship has fallen to its lowest point in decades, they will try to find common ground.

The “Open Skies Treaty” aims to build trust between Russia and the West by allowing more than 30 signatories to the agreement to conduct reconnaissance flights on each other’s territories to collect information about the military and activities.

Since the treaty entered into force in 2002, the treaty has conducted more than 1,500 flights to increase transparency and allow monitoring of arms control and other agreements.

The Lower House of the Russian Parliament voted to withdraw from the treaty on May 19. [File: The Federal Assembly of The Russian Federation via AP]

Trump administration announced U.S. withdrawal Starting from last year’s treaty, the Russian House of Commons voted last week. But until Thursday, both parties said that the treaty could still be saved. Russian officials said that if the United States does this, they are willing to reconsider withdrawing troops.

The Federal Committee of the Upper House of the Russian Parliament is expected to approve the withdrawal bill on June 2. After Putin signs the measure, it will take six months for Russia to withdraw from the bill to take effect.

However, Thursday’s notice appears to mark the end of the treaty, which has received broad support from US allies in Europe and Congressional Democrats as a measure of confidence-building between former Cold War opponents.