NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on Friday called on Russia to respect its obligation to cooperate in the surveillance of its military activities to save the "Open Skies" treaty, threatened by a withdrawal from the United States.
"Russia's return to treaty compliance is the best way to preserve the benefits of the treaty," he said after an emergency videoconference meeting with Alliance ambassadors. .
This treaty, which came into force in 2002, forced the United States and Russia to accept control of their military activities and their strategic installations by overflights of their territory.
The United States was represented on Friday by Ambassador Marshall S. Billingslea, the President's representative for disarmament issues.
Stoltenberg made no reference to the declaration signed by ten European countries "regretting" Washington's decision to withdraw from the international treaty.
This position was repeated during the meeting and was shared by several other delegations, including Portugal, we learned from diplomatic sources.
The withdrawal from the United States will be effective in six months, but the American administration has said it is ready to reconsider its decision "if Russia resumes full compliance with the treaty".
"We are firmly committed to preserving effective arms control, disarmament and non-proliferation at the international level," said Jens Stoltenberg.
"For many years, Russia has imposed flight restrictions incompatible with the treaty, including flight restrictions over Kaliningrad and flight restrictions in Russia near its border with Georgia," said the Secretary General of. NATO.
"Russia's current selective implementation of its obligations under the Open Skies Treaty has undermined the contribution of this important treaty to security and stability in the Euro-Atlantic region," he said.
"The Allies remain open to dialogue in the NATO-Russia Council on risk reduction and transparency," he said.
Jens Stoltenberg has not specified whether he intends to convene a meeting of this dialogue body with Moscow.
The Open Skies treaty links 35 countries. It gives each of the signatory countries "the right to drive and the obligation to accept observation flights over its territory".