US Halts Funding Of Open Skies Treaty Enforcement With Russia - NDAA

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 14th August, 2018) The United States will not obligate any funds to implement the Open Skies Treaty until penalties are imposed against Russia for previous violations, the 2019 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) revealed.

Earlier in the day the 2019 NDAA, which authorizes $716 billion of defense spending, was signed into law by US President Donald Trump during a ceremony at Fort Drum in New York.

"None of the funds authorized to be appropriated by this Act� may be obligated or expended to carry out any activities to modify any United States aircraft for purposes of implementing the Open Skies Treaty," the legislation said on Monday.

The suspension is in place until the president certifies to Congress that penalties have been imposed on Russia for previous treaty violations, the document said.

In June 2017, the United States said Moscow was violating the terms of the Open Skies Treaty by placing restrictions on overflights of Kaliningrad, Russia's enclave on the Baltic Sea.

The United States said it would implement restrictions on Russian observation flights over the United States on January 1, 2018.

The Russian Foreign Ministry has said it has complied with its obligations under all international agreements including the Open Skies Treaty

The Treaty on Open Skies was signed in 1992 and became one of the measures to build confidence in post-Cold War Europe. It has been operating since 2002 and allows participating countries to openly collect information on each other's military forces and activities.

The treaty covers most NATO member states as well as Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, Georgia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Sweden and Finland. As a rule, flights of Russia and NATO member states are conducted on a reciprocal basis.