MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 22nd November, 2020) NATO members should guarantee that they will not send data they obtain from flights under the Open Skies Treaty (OST) to Washington after the US withdrawal from the deal, Leonid Slutsky, the head of the Russian lower house's International Affairs Committee, said on Sunday.
On Sunday, the US officially quit the treaty, which allows its participants to carry out aerial surveillance as part of a program of scheduled observation flights. More than 30 countries are parties to the treaty signed in 1992 to boost transparency of military activities.
"The US withdrawal from the OST is a shrewd one-sided game. Russia will act in accordance with its national interests. The US allies from NATO must provide rigid guarantees to Moscow on the nontransfer of data to Washington. Our further actions will be defined only on such basis," Slutsky wrote on Twitter.
According to the lawmaker, the US has already demanded its allies to sign "the documents on the communication of such information" and to deny Russian missions permission to fly over US military sites in Europe.
Slutsky added that "it is necessary to understand that Russia needs the OST quite as much as the other partners."
The United States announced in May it would quit the Open Skies Treaty in six months if Russia did not return to full compliance with the treaty. Russia has denied US claims of breaching the pact. On November 12, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that Russia would seek legal guarantees from US allies still committed to the treaty that they would not pass information to the US. The German, French and British foreign ministries said they would adhere to the agreement.
