The United States announced its intention to withdraw from the Open Skies treaty allowing unarmed aerial surveillance flights over member states, saying that Russia has repeatedly violated the terms of the pact, Reuters reported.

Senior administration officials said the withdrawal would be formally completed in six months, based on the terms of the deal.

This is President Donald Trump’s latest administration attempt to pull the US out of a major global treaty following withdrawal from the Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces Treaty with Russia last year.

The Open Skies treaty is a multilateral international treaty allowing the free flight of unarmed reconnaissance aircraft in the airspace of signatory countries. 

It was signed on March 24, 1992 in Helsinki by representatives of OSCE 23 member states. The purpose of the treaty is to help build confidence between states through improving mechanisms for monitoring military activities and for compliance with existing arms control treaties. For 2017, 34 states were parties to the treaty.