European Countries Stay in the Open Skies Treaty

France and ten other European countries announced their intention to comply with the Open Skies Treaty terms, despite President Trump's decision to withdraw from the treaty. "We will continue to apply the treaty provisions, which has obvious value [...] for our common security," the communiqué informed. It was signed by foreign ministries representatives of France, Germany, Belgium, Spain, Finland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, the Czech Republic and Sweden. They regretted the US intention to withdraw from the Treaty and noted that the US decision would enter into force in six months. European allies called the Open Skies Treaty an important element of trust between the participating countries. At the same time, they stated that they share Washington’s concerns about the Russian Federation’s compliance with the treaty, the International French Radio reported. On Thursday, US President Trump announced Washington’s intention to withdraw from the Open Skies Treaty. The agreement allows the signatory countries to conduct observation flights over foreign territory and conduct aerial photography. In Washington, they say that Russia uses the data obtained during inspections to aim its precision weapons. The representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, said that Moscow rejected the United States claims and had its own claims to Washington regarding compliance with the Treaty by the American side.