Moscow has made every effort and exhausted all resources to keep Washington in the Open Skies Treaty (OST). Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said this on Wednesday at a Federation Council meeting at which the law on denunciation of the OST was being considered.
"We have made every effort to keep the US in the treaty, have exhausted all resources for this and therefore consider the decision to denounce this treaty optimal and correct," the deputy minister said.
The US has left Russia no doubt that it has no intention of returning to the Open Skies Treaty. "On the 27th [of May], the Americans left not the slightest doubt that they had made a final decision not to return to the OST," Ryabkov said.
Also, the Russian Federation will not tolerate the withdrawal of a certain number of strategic carriers by the United States from the OST account.
The Federation Council on Wednesday approved a law on the denunciation of the OST. The senators voted unanimously to approve the document. On May 19, the Duma unanimously adopted this law.
On January 15, the Russian Foreign Ministry issued a statement about the launch of the internal procedures to withdraw from the Open Skies Treaty, justifying such a step by the lack of progress in removing obstacles to the continued operation of the treaty in the new conditions - after Washington's withdrawal in November 2020. The US State Department said in April that US authorities had not yet made a decision on whether to return to the OST. On May 27, US Deputy Secretary of State informed Ryabkov of the US decision not to return to the OST.
GSV "Russia - Islamic World"
Photo: Federation Council
Based on materials from TASS