Donald Trump to pull US out of Open Skies Treaty, accuses Russia of non-compliance

US President Donald Trump on May 21 said that Washington will pull out from the 35-member 'Open Skies Treaty' blaming Russia for not adhering to the agreement. The Open Skies Treaty came into force on January 1, 2002 and it requires all party states to adhere to the agreement that allows any member country to conduct unarmed aerial surveillance over the entire territory of its participants on short notice. Trump has accused Russia of violating the pact saying that if they don't adhere to the agreement, the United States is not going to adhere to it either.  

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Donald Trump was talking to reporters outside the White House when he made his intentions of withdrawing from the pact clear. "I think we have a very good relationship with Russia.  But Russia didn’t adhere to the treaty, so until they adhere, we will pull out. But there’s a very good chance we’ll make a new agreement or do something to put that agreement back together. But 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 also," Trump told reporters according to the White House website. 

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Trump is hoping to bring Russia back on the negotiating table to make a new agreement and said that the US' decision to pull out from the treaty won't affect their relationship with Moscow. "So I think what’s going to happen is we’re going to pull out and they’re going to come back and want to make a deal.  We’ve had a very good relationship lately with Russia.  And you can see that with respect to oil and what’s happening with oil," Trump added. 

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Arms treaty withdrawal

Last year, the United States pulled out of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF), an arms control that was signed between Moscow and Washington in 1987. Trump also referred to the arms treaty saying, "if you look at the arms treaties, we’re probably going to make a deal with Russia on arms treaty.  And China will be may be included in that.  We’ll see what happens."

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(Image Credit: AP)