MOSCOW, June 18/ Radio Sputnik. The North Atlantic Council of NATO has expressed its "deep regret" over Russia's decision to withdraw from the Open Skies Treaty (DON).
NATO called on Russia to reconsider the decision and return to compliance with the terms of the treaty.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said earlier on Friday that Russia will officially leave the DON on December 18, 2021. The Russian Foreign Ministry blamed the United States for the collapse of the Treaty.
"The United States actively supports transparency in the military field only in cases when they expect to realize some of their advantages through it. When it comes to openness measures affecting their own territory, they back down and begin to create obstacles to the implementation of such agreements, without thinking about European security, the concerns of the allies, or the assessment of their own contractual capacity," the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
The Open Skies Treaty was signed in 1992 and has been in force since 2002. It became one of the confidence-building measures in the military sphere after the end of the cold war. The participating States were granted the right to fly over each other's territories using equipment that meets certain requirements. A total of 34 states joined the treaty, but the United States withdrew from it on November 22, 2020. In mid-January 2021, Russia announced the beginning of a similar procedure, and on June 7, President Vladimir Putin signed a law on the denunciation of the treaty.
Earlier, Sputnik radio reported how China appreciated Russia's decision to withdraw from the Open Skies Treaty.
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