The Russian government has decided to approve and submit to President Vladimir Putin a proposal to denounce the Open Skies Treaty, according to a related document published on the Internet portal of legal information on Wednesday
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 05th May, 2021) The Russian government has decided to approve and submit to President Vladimir Putin a proposal to denounce the Open Skies Treaty, according to a related document published on the internet portal of legal information on Wednesday.
"To approve and present to the President of the Russian Federation for submitting to the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation a proposal on denunciation the Open Skies Treaty, signed in Helsinki on March 24, 1992," the document says.
The agreement, comprising 34 party states, was designed to build confidence between Russia and the collective West, primarily NATO members, by allowing them to conduct unarmed flights over each other's territories to monitor military activities on short notice.
The US began the withdrawal procedure last July citing alleged violations by Russia and in November it stopped being a member of the treaty.
On January 15, Russia announced launching the withdrawal procedure, too, which normally takes six months. Moscow said it would reverse the decision if European signatories agree to two conditions first, not to share intelligence collected during flights under the treaty over its military infrastructure with the United States, and second, to allow Russian flights over US military infrastructure located in Europe.
According to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, the treaty's "fate is hanging in the balance."
