MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 23rd November, 2020) Moscow will retaliate in a tough manner if member countries of the Open Skies Treaty transfer the data of their observation flights over Russia to the United States, which is no longer a party to the agreement, Konstantin Gavrilov, the head of the Russian delegation to the Vienna negotiations on military security and arms control on the situation in and around Ukraine, said on Monday.
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.
"We have recently learned that Washington is playing an unscrupulous, behind-the-scenes game and is demanding that its allies sign documents, according to which, they will transfer the materials of their observation flights over Russia to the United States ... This is a gross violation of the treaty. If the remaining participating states yield to the United States, our tough response will not be long in coming," Gavrilov told the Rossiya 24 broadcaster.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said earlier in November that Moscow would ask its partners within the treaty to provide legal guarantees that they would not share flight data with the United States. The United Kingdom, Germany and France have since reiterated their commitment to the treaty.
