Moscow. May 17. INTERFAX-The State Duma Defense Committee recommended that the house denounce the Open Skies Treaty, Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Defense Committee Yuri Shvytkin told Interfax on Monday.
"The Committee supported the bill on the denunciation of the Open Skies Treaty," Shvytkin said.
According to him, the bill is planned to be considered at a meeting of the Duma on May 19.
The bill on the denunciation of the Open Skies Treaty was introduced by Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Duma on May 11.
The treaty (1168313-7), it follows from the explanatory note to the document, is introduced in connection with the withdrawal of the United States from it "under a far-fetched pretext", which jeopardized the security of Russia.
The draft law notes that " on November 22, 2020, the United States withdrew from the treaty under a far-fetched pretext, which significantly violated the balance of interests of the States parties to the treaty reached at its conclusion."
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."
Russia rejected the US claims.
Russia's withdrawal from the open Skies treaty will be a logical step that will not lead to risks in the field of defense and security, former head of the international treaty department of the Russian Defense Ministry, retired Lieutenant General Yevgeny Buzhinsky, told Interfax in April.
"Since the United States, one of the main participants, has withdrawn from the treaty, then we have nothing to do there," he said.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.
