Moscow. May 5. INTERFAX-Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin has signed a government decree on submitting a proposal to the President of the Russian Federation to denounce the Open Skies Treaty (DON).
"To approve and submit to the President of the Russian Federation for submission to the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation a proposal to denounce the Open Skies Treaty signed in Helsinki on March 24, 1992," the document says, the text of which is posted on the official Internet portal of legal information.
Earlier, the former head of the international treaty department of the Russian Defense Ministry, retired Lieutenant General Yevgeny Buzhinsky, told Interfax that Russia's withdrawal from the DON would be a logical step that would not lead to risks in the field of defense and security. "Since the United States, one of the main participants, has withdrawn from the treaty, then we have nothing to do there," he said.
"From a military point of view, it would be completely pointless for Russia to remain a party to the treaty. Withdrawal from the treaty will not carry any risks for Russia, " Buzhinsky said.
"After the US withdraws from the treaty, Russia is deprived of the possibility of conducting observation flights over American territory. At the same time, it is possible that the United States will ban European countries from Russian observation flights over American bases. Plus, the United States, through its allies, will have access to information about Russia. There is no point in remaining in the agreement for us, " Buzhinsky said.
"There was a hope that the United States would reconsider the decision to withdraw from the open Skies treaty, but, apparently, returning to the treaty is not a priority of the current American administration," the source told Interfax.
As the head of the Russian delegation to the Vienna talks on military security and arms control, Konstantin Gavrilov, said at the meeting of the 85th session of the Open Skies Advisory Commission, Russia will withdraw from the DON by the end of May, while maintaining the current status quo.
The Treaty on Open Skies was signed on March 24, 1992 in Helsinki by representatives of 23 states of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). Russia ratified the treaty on May 26, 2001. The parties to the treaty may fly over each other's territories in order to control military activities.
On May 21, 2020, the previous US President, Donald Trump, announced that he had decided to withdraw from the DON. As reported in the corresponding statement of Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, the reason for the US withdrawal from the treaty was the restrictions imposed by Russia on observation flights, including a limit of 500 km for flights of foreign inspectors over the Kaliningrad region, as well as"denial of access for observation flights in the 10-kilometer corridor on the border with South Ossetia and Abkhazia."
