 Hello and welcome to Chanakya IS Academy. I am Priya Kumari and today special current affair topic is Russia Exit Open Skies Treaty. So why this isn't news? This isn't news because recently Russia announced that it was leaving the Open Skies Treaty. Russia announced that it was pulling out of the Open Skies Treaty saying that the pact which allows unarmed surveillance flights over member countries had been seriously compromised by the withdrawal of the United States. Now United States left the Open Skies Arms Control and Verification Treaty in November 2020 accusing Russia of violating it something Moscow always denied. So because of this this isn't news. So what is this Open Skies Treaty? So it was actually first proposed in 1955 by former US President Dwight Azenhover as a means to de-escalate tensions during the Cold War. The landmark treaty was eventually signed in 1992 between NATO members and former Warsaw Pact countries following the demise of the Soviet Union. It went into effect in 2002 and currently has 35 signatories along with one non-ratify member that is Kyrgyzstan. So this Open Skies Treaty aims at building confidence among members through mutual openness thus reducing the chances of accidental war. So under the treaty a member state can spy on any part of the host nation with the latter's consent. So a country can undertake aerial imaging over the host state after giving notice 72 hours before and sharing its exact flight path 24 hours before. So the information gathered such as on troop movements, military exercises and missile deployments has to be shared with all member states. So only approved imaging equipment is permitted on the surveillance flights and officials from the host state can also stay on board throughout the planned journey. So this is what about this Open Skies Treaty. Significance of the Open Skies Treaty. The Open Skies Treaty was signed in 1992 much before the advent of advanced satellite imaging technology which is currently the preferred mode for intelligence gathering. Yet as explains a report in The Economist, surveillance aircraft provide key information that still cannot be gathered by the satellite sensors such as thermal imaging data. Also since only the US has an extensive military satellite infrastructure, other NATO members would have to rely on Washington to obtain classified satellite data which would be more difficult to obtain compared to OST surveillance records that have to be shared with all members as a treaty obligation. So Economist report also mentions the OST's utility which especially for Washington which since 2002 has flown 201 surveillance missions over Russia and its ally Belarus. This was attested by the former official of Trump administration who also hailed OST data gathered during the 14 Russia-Ukraine conflict. So why did Russia leave OST or left OST? So a contentious issue regarding Russia's compliance with the OST was its alleged reluctance to allow flights over Kalinin Grand, its enclave sorry its enclave in Eastern Europe that sits between NATO allies Lithuania and Poland. So Russia defended its position by saying that the restrictions were permissible under treaty rules and gave the example of the US imposing similar limits on flights over Alaska. So after the US left the Open Sky Treaty, Russia sought assurance from NATO allies who continued to remain on the treaty that they would not transfer data collected by their flights over Russia to Washington. So in its statement Russia said that these requests were not backed by NATO members hence Russia was forced to leave this treaty. So what is the way ahead or what is like what will happen now? So before Russia's leaving this OST the US-Russia also left significant arms control accord that is the Intermediate Range Nuclear Forces Treaty or in short we say that INF Treaty in 2019. So this Intermediate Range Nuclear Force Treaty was signed between US and Soviet Union 1987 in which both powers agreed to destroy two categories of lethal missile systems from their own stocks as a means to de-accelerate the nuclear arms race. So now experts now they are worried about the fate of much larger US-Russia new start nuclear arms control agreement which is slated to expire on February 5th 2021. So the new US President-elect Joe Biden who is going to be take oath in just a few hours has spoken in favor of preserving the treaty as opposed to outgoing President Trump who did not want to renew it unless China too was made part. So despite Biden's willingness however there are apprehensions that negotiations with Russia would not be completed before the February deadline. So this fate is hanging of this treaty also. So that's all for today's topic we will see you in the next topic till then take care and goodbye. Don't forget to like share and subscribe to our channel and press the bell icon to never miss an update.