MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 22nd November, 2020) Moscow will seek firm guarantees that the states remaining in the Open Skies Treaty will comply with their commitments, the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Sunday when the US participation in the agreement officially ends.
"Over the recent months, Washington has hypocritically said that if the Russian position changed, it could reconsider its decision. In fact, no one [in the US] even thought of revising anything. It was a gallery game, designed to mislead the governments and the public of European countries, urging Washington to change its mind. As in case of other arms control treaties, the US side deliberately decided to undermine the Open Skies Treaty (we recall that the US participation in this agreement was a condition for its entry into force)," the ministry said.
After leaving the agreement, the US expects its allies to prevent Russian observation flights over US military facilities in Europe and share with Washington its materials of photographing the Russian territory.
"Of course, this is unacceptable for Russia. We will seek firm guarantees that the states remaining in the Open Skies Treaty will fulfill their obligations, firstly, on ensuring the possibility of observing their entire territory and, secondly, on ensuring that the materials of observation flights are not transferred to third countries that are not participants in the treaty," the ministry added.
If Washington indeed wants the treaty to remain in effect and Russia to remain a member state of the agreement, "then they should, without delay, seriously think about what should be done to allay Russian concerns," the ministry noted.
