Russia began procedure for denunciation of Open Sky Treaty

Russian President Vladimir Putin introduced a draft law on denunciation by Russia of the Open Sky Treaty, follows from the database of the lower house of parliament, RIA Novosti reports.

Earlier it was reported that Putin appointed the deputy head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Sergei Ryabkova with his official representative when considering the chambers of the Federal Assembly of the issue of denunciation of this contract.

Open Sky Treaty has become one of the measures to strengthen confidence in Europe after the Cold War, allowing 3 participating countries to openly collect information about the armed forces and events of each other. The procedure for the exit of the United States from the Agreement on the Open Sky, launched on May 22, 2020, ended November 22.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia on January 15 announced the launch of domestic procedures for exit from the contract. The department noted that after leaving the US Treaty, the balance of the interests of States Parties achieved at the conclusion of the contract was significantly violated. The agency stressed that this step does not mean the start of exit from the contract, this will happen only from the moment of filing Moscow notice to the depository – Hungary and Canada. The deputy head of the Russian Foreign Ministry Sergey Ryabkov on April 6, said RIA Novosti that the US Allies remained a little more than a year and a half in order to determine the fate of the Open Nebu Treaty, Moscow completes interdepartmental procedures. Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, Sergey Lavrov, on April 16, stated that the fate of the contract in the current conditions “hung in the hairs.”