Enough to fly: why the United States close the sky for Russian military
The United States intends to limit the inspection of the Russian military flights over its territory. Russia promises to retaliate. Mutual accusations are part of a “new cold war” between the two countries, stated the experts.
The sky closes
On 26 September during the meeting of the Advisory Commission on open skies in Vienna, US officials announced Washington’s intention to restrict observation flights Russian military aviation over the States of Alaska and Hawaii, as, in their opinion, Russia does not comply with the international Treaty on open skies. This was reported by the newspaper The Wall Street Journal. “We want to encourage Russia to return to execution of the agreement,” said a source in the U.S. Department of State.
The accusations are not new. What is now left in the public space, we heard from Americans before. The fact that we have a number of counter claims to the United States on a number of aspects of the implementation of this pogovornega Rebaudioside Minister of foreign Affairs of Russia
What are the claims to the United States, he said. The actions of the Americans Ryabkov called the pressure at which no decisions “can’t be worked out.” According to him, Russia’s response to U.S. restrictions necessarily follow, but first all the nuances of the study the military.
American restrictions may be in force from 1 January 2018, the Director of the Department for nonproliferation and arms control of the foreign Ministry Mikhail Ulyanov at a press conference on September 26.
According to The Wall Street Journal, the conflict arose due to the fact that Moscow imposed restrictions on other States for observation flights over the Kaliningrad region.
The agreement allows flights to a range of 5500 km, but Russia has set an additional limit of 500 miles on flights over the Kaliningrad region. Because of the restrictions on the inspectors, the United States cannot in one flight to explore the entire area, had to make two flights, although the funds could be directed to other inspection flight, explained to the edition a source in the Pentagon.
Moscow does not recognize nor deny the charges. “With regard to the claims against us, we do not consider them reasonable. In fact, the agreement is very complex, it is not always straightforward to interpret, so you need to look for compromises and solutions,” said about this at a press conference Ulyanov.
Mutual claims to execution of the agreement the U.S. and Russia will not impose for the first time, however the real constraints it came just now. In June 2016, the United States was concerned that Moscow could use observation flights for the purpose of spying. A group of congressmen, headed by house of representatives member and Chairman of the Committee on nuclear weapons Mike Rogers, spoke to who was then President Barack Obama with a proposal to allow Russia the use of advanced equipment under the Treaty on open skies. “In recent years, instead of following the objectives stipulated by the contract, Russia will use the missions to strengthen espionage”, — said in a letter to congressmen.