Russian upper house votes to exit from treaty allowing overflight surveillance

The Russian parliament’s upper house voted Wednesday to withdraw from an international treaty allowing surveillance flights over military facilities following the US exit from the treaty.

The vote comes after US officials told Moscow last month that President Joe Biden’s administration had decided not to reenter the Open Skies Treaty, which had allowed surveillance flights over military facilities before President Donald Trump withdrew from the pact.

As a presidential candidate, Biden had criticized Trump’s withdrawal as “short-sighted.” Moscow has signaled its readiness to reverse the withdrawal procedure and stay in the 1992 treaty if the United States returns to the agreement.