WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 21st May, 2020) US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Thursday accused Russia of using imagery, obtained during Open Skies overflights, to support the doctrine of targeting critical infrastructure in the United States and Europe with precision-guided conventional munitions.
"Moscow appears to use Open Skies imagery in support of an aggressive new Russian doctrine of targeting critical infrastructure in the United States and Europe with precision-guided conventional munitions," Pompeo said in a statement. "Rather than using the Open Skies Treaty as a mechanism for improving trust and confidence through military transparency, Russia has, therefore, weaponized the Treaty by making it into a tool of intimidation and threat."
The US is going to submit on Friday the notice of its decision to withdraw from the Treaty on Open Skies and six months later will cease its participation in the agreement, which allows observation overflights for better predictability and transparency. Pompeo said the US may reconsider the decision if Russia "demonstrates a return to full compliance with this confidence-building Treaty, but without such a change of course from the Kremlin, our path will lead to withdrawal in six months' time."
