In a classified State Department memo obtained by Newsweek, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo suggested Russia may been capturing images of infrastructure for the purposes of targeting it with
The United States is expected to tell NATO allies Thursday that it is withdrawing from the Treaty on Open Skies in part because it fears Russia is using it to photograph critical infrastructure in Europe and the U. S. to identify targets to bomb, a State Department memo obtained by Newsweek showed.
The Trump administration also is expected to provide a six-month notice of intent to withdraw on Friday, the memo added.
Representatives for the State Department and the Russian Foreign Ministry did not return requests for comment. Neither did a representative for Belgium’s permanent mission to the Organization for Security and Co-Operation in Europe. Belgium chairs the treaty’s implementing body.
The New York Times first reported Thursday that the U. S. plans on withdrawing from the post-Soviet era pact that permits signatories to conduct surveillance flights over each other’s territories to ensure compliance with arms controls and other agreements. Thirty-four nation parties have signed on to the treaty since it was signed in 1992.
It was conceived by President Dwight Eisenhower to reduce the chances of war, and more than 1,500 flights have been conducted since its implementation decades later.
Thursday’s move suggests that President Donald Trump may also withdraw from the final New START arms treaty that expires one week after the U.
