Disarmament Diplomacy

Issue No. 57, May 2001

News Review

Duma Ratifies Open Skies Treaty

On April 18, the Russian Duma approved ratification legislation for the Open Skies Treaty. In a private session, 281 of the 450 deputies voted in favour of the 1992 accord, negotiated between the 27 member states of NATO and the former Warsaw Pact. The pact seeks to enhance military confidence-building and transparency through the introduction of a quota-system for surveillance flights using specified aircraft and equipment. The ratification law will now be considered by the Federation Council, or Senate. Once Russian accession is fully confirmed, Belarus - the only other state in the region outside the accord - is expected to follow suit, allowing the Treaty to enter into force. (Note: on May 24, the National Assembly of Belarus duly ratified the Treaty, paving the way for formal accession.) Once in effect, the Treaty becomes open for accession by other states, subject to consensus approval by the Open Skies Consultative Commission (OSCC), the body of states parties charged with facilitating and monitoring Treaty implementation.

The Treaty was opposed in the Duma by the Communist and Agrarian blocs, both of which expressed concern about the impact on national security in the context of NATO expansion and deteriorating relations between Moscow and Washington. The prevailing counter-argument was summed up in the text of the resolution submitted to the deputies by the Duma's Defence Committee:

"The ratification will have [a] certain impact on all areas of activities in the Russian Federation. As far as foreign policy is concerned, Russia will use the Open Skies mechanism in crisis areas, to maintain operational control over the state of armed forces in NATO...[and] to train crews for conducting flights over the territory of foreign states to obtain current information. According to sources in the MOD, the rate of obtained intelligence data in [the] case of ratification is 25 to 1, i.e. the Russian Federation gains more than it loses."

On March 13, President Putin had submitted to the Duma an 'Opinion' elaborating the reasons for the government's desire to accede. The Opinion argues: "In the conditions of NATO expansion, the ratification of the Treaty will enable Russia to enhance considerably its capability to verify the Alliance's commitment to avoid additional permanent stationing of substantial combat forces on the territory of new members." The Opinion further noted that the "first stage of implementation will not require extra expenditure for Russia", while the second stage "will imply development of air surveillance systems and systems to process data obtained from surveillance flights (in mid-term perspective, until 2006, Russia will have to expend about 1.8 billion rubles)."

Reports: Russia ratifies Open Skies Treaty on spy plane flights, Associated Press, April 18; Russia passes spy plane treaty, Associated Press, April 18; Russia Lower House ratifies Open Skies Treaty, Agence France Presse, April 19; The Duma and Arms Control, April-May 2001, Center for Policy Studies in Russia (PIR Center).