Moscow-Sana
Russia today announced its official withdrawal from the Open Skies Treaty, starting tomorrow, Saturday, in response to the United States' withdrawal from it.
The Russian Foreign Ministry confirmed that the United States bears full responsibility for the collapse of the Open Skies Treaty.
It is noteworthy that the United States announced its withdrawal from the treaty in November 2020, when Donald Trump was its president, as Moscow repeatedly called on Washington to return to the treaty without result.
On May 19, the Russian State Duma adopted a law on withdrawing from the Open Skies Treaty, on June 2 it was ratified by the Russian Federation Council, and on June 7, President Vladimir Putin signed it.
And 35 countries, mostly European countries, remain party to the treaty after the United States and Russia withdrew from it.
The treaty was signed in 1992 and entered into force in 2002. It required that Russia and Western countries take measures to enhance confidence and monitor the skies through the flights of Western countries' aircraft over Russia's territory and Russian aircraft over Western countries' territories to monitor military gatherings and their movements.
