(CNN) -
On Sunday, the United States formally abandoned the Open Skies Treaty, about six months after President Donald Trump first announced the decision, according to the State Department.
The 1992 treaty allows the 34 member countries to conduct unarmed, short-notice reconnaissance flights over other countries to collect data on their military forces and activities.
The Trump administration has cited Russian restrictions on open skies flights as the reason it sought to exit the treaty, accusing Moscow of imposing limits on flights near its Kaliningrad enclave, an area between Poland and Lithuania where the Russian army maintains a strong presence.
The United States has also accused Russia of denying flights within 10 km of the Georgia-Russia border and denying a previously approved flight over a major Russian military exercise.
"We will withdraw from the Open Skies Treaty"
"Russia did not join the treaty, so until they join, we will withdraw," Trump told reporters outside the White House in May.
The United States' European allies, however, value the treaty as it gives them the ability to collect aerial reconnaissance information that they would not necessarily have access to outside of the treaty.
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In a lengthy May statement explaining the United States' decision to exit the agreement, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the United States understands that Europeans still value the treaty, and said it was one of the reasons the United States stood by. remained in the treaty for a period despite Moscow's unwillingness to adhere to it.
The treaty gave US allies and partners without sophisticated satellite capabilities a way to gather and share information: all member countries could access the images collected on the flights.
Pentagon officials have told CNN that the US military intends to share some of its intelligence and asset reconnaissance data such as satellites with European allies to help offset any loss of critical information from the cessation of flights under the Open Skies Treaty.
Similarly, the Trump administration abandoned the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty for what the United States and all NATO members said were Russian violations of the agreement due to Moscow's deployment. of missiles with intermediate range nuclear capability.
However, while America's European allies supported the decision to exit the INF Treaty, no such support was offered for the Trump administration's decision to exit the Open Skies Treaty.
Eleven member countries also issued a statement in May expressing their "regret" over the Trump administration's decision, which also encountered resistance from US lawmakers from both parties.
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