The start of Russia's withdrawal procedure from the Open Skies Treaty (OST) is an adequate and forced reaction to the unilateral rupture of the agreement by the United States and the inaction of European countries, Leonid Slutsky, head of the State Duma Foreign Affairs Committee, told reporters on Friday.
"The launch of the procedure for Russia's withdrawal from the Open Skies Treaty is an adequate reaction to the unilateral break of the Treaty on the part of the United States and the inaction of European partners in providing guarantees to Russia not to hand over data on surveillance flights over Russian territory to the American side," Slutsky said.
The parliamentarian reminded that Moscow had repeatedly called on the other participants of the treaty to sign a statement with specific legal obligations not to provide information to third countries on the results of observation flights. "However, we never waited for this step. Under such circumstances, Russia will not allow itself to play a calculated one-way game and will not risk its national security interests," he stressed.
The violation of the integrity of the OST, the deputy is convinced, undermines trust in security issues between participating countries. "I regret to say that this is a forced response," Slutsky summarized.
On Friday, the Russian Foreign Ministry issued a statement about the launch of domestic procedures to withdraw from the OST. The Foreign Ministry substantiates the step by the "lack of progress in removing obstacles to the continued operation of the treaty in a new environment - after the US withdrawal".
For several years Washington accused Moscow of selective implementation of the OST and violation of a number of provisions of this multilateral agreement. Russia has also made claims against the US related to the implementation of the treaty. In 2017, Washington announced certain restrictions on Russian observation flights over US territory under the OST; Moscow responded shortly thereafter with a mirror image. The US withdrew from the OST in November 2020 under incumbent President Donald Trump.
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Photo: Federation Council
Based on materials from TASS