Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a bill to withdraw from an international treaty allowing surveillance flights over military facilities, following the US exit from the pact. As a presidential candidate, Mr Biden had criticised Mr Trump’s withdrawal as “short-sighted”. Mr Trump pulled out of the pact last year, arguing that Russian violations made it untenable for Washington to remain a party, and the United States completed its withdrawal in November. Russia has rejected any violations, arguing that a few restrictions on observation flights it imposed in the past were permissible under the treaty and noted that the US imposed more sweeping restrictions on observation flights over Alaska. As a condition for staying in the pact after the US pullout, Moscow has unsuccessfully pushed for guarantees from Nato allies that they will not hand over the data collected during their observation flights over Russia to the US.

Source: Irish Independent June 07, 2021 10:41 UTC