Abstract. The article is devoted to the Treaty on Open Skies that remains one of the few instruments for multilateral and collective security in Europe and North America. The treaty may cease to exist, due to accumulating contradictions about the its implementation among the participating states, the destructive approach to arms control by President Trump's administration, and general degradation of relations between Russia and the West. This article examines Russian approaches to managing the current situation (which is close to a dead end) and finding possible ways out of it. Special attention is paid to the informal consequences of maintaining or destroying the Open Skies regime. Some prospects for future collaborative airborne monitoring regimes are also discussed.