MOSCOW, May 17-RIA Novosti. A decision has been made to postpone consideration of the issue of denouncing the Open Skies Treaty, Senator Leonid Slutsky said. Earlier, the meeting was scheduled to be held on May 19.
A source confirmed to RIA Novosti that this will not happen until June 2. According to him, Washington is given the opportunity to return to the agreement.
The Open Skies Treaty (DON) entered into force on 1 January 2002 and was one of the post-Cold War confidence-building measures in Europe: it allowed the 34 participating countries to openly collect information about each other's armed forces and activities.
In May last year, the United States launched the procedure for withdrawing from the agreement, which ended on November 22.
In January 2021, Moscow also announced the launch of interdepartmental procedures for withdrawing from the DON. The Foreign Ministry noted that Washington's actions significantly violated the balance of interests of other states.
