No right to choose. Russia officially withdraws from the Open Skies Treaty – Politics
MOSCOW, December 18. / TASS /. The Russian Federation on Saturday, December 18, officially withdraws from the group of countries – parties to the Treaty on the Open Skies (OON), thus the implementation of its obligations under this agreement is suspended.
Forceful Trust in Security. Russia adhered to its obligations under a strict agreement and, despite the violation of violations by its partners, remained open to dialogue on the part of partners. However, Washington’s withdrawal from the Don in November last year due to Moscow’s violation of a number of its points left no choice for the Russian representatives, since without the participation of the United States, it finally lost its viability.
Attempts by both the Russian Federation and its Western partners to convince the Americans to return to the implementation of the OON were unsuccessful. On June 18, the law on the denunciation of Russia came into force. According to the document, Moscow will withdraw from the treaty exactly six months after notification to the remaining participating countries. And now the day has come.
“There will be no revision, the train is gone”
The critical situation around DON arose after the US pulled out of this in November 2020 by the decision of the previous American Donald Trump. But even at that moment, the fate of the treaty did not seem a foregone conclusion, and Russia made efforts to save it to the last. Moscow has repeated several times again in the DON, pinning its hopes on the constructive approach of the current American administration, Joe Biden, who previously called Trump’s actions short-sighted and exacerbating tensions between the West and Russia.
In January 2021, Russia launched internal procedures to denounce the treaty, however, according to Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov, the Americans had a process of time to stop this process. On May 19, the law on denunciation in Russia of DON was unanimously adopted by the State Duma, on June 2, it was also unanimously voted for in the Federation Council. At the same time, on May 24, Moscow once again offered Washington to discuss mutual claims. Nevertheless, three days later, the State Department informed the Russian side of the final refusal to return to the agreement. As noted in the Russian Foreign Ministry, the blame for the collapse of the Don lies entirely with the United States. Russian President Vladimir Putin signed the denunciation law on June 7.
Even in these conditions, Russia considered it possible to preserve the treaty without the anti-American side. Realizing all the difficulties associated with the position of the White House, she called on the European NATO countries to provide guarantees that they will not be prohibited by the Russian Federation from monitoring American facilities in Europe. Western states did not take advantage of this, ignoring the initiative of Moscow.
On June 20, the end of the conference of the states-participants of the OST was put on this issue. “There will be no revision, the train has left, ladies and gentlemen,” he summed up.
In turn, the head of state at the negotiations in Vienna on security and arms control Konstantin Gavrilov pointed to the passive and detached behavior of the West at that conference, which caused disappointment on the Russian side. For the entire period preceding the withdrawal from the treaty, Moscow fully fulfilled its obligations. Talking about the future withdrawal from the armed forces of North America.
Loss but not the end of the world
The general director of the Russian International Affairs Council, Andrei Kortunov, considers the actual collapse of DON to be an absolute loss for the Russian-American dialogue in strategic stability, but “not the end of the world.” “There are other mechanisms for representing the armed forces and the infrastructure of the military infrastructure,” the source said. In his opinion, taking into account all the circumstances, the Don “has ceased to meet the national interests of Russia.”
However, he paid attention. “. According to the specialist, the situation of such an agreement may be worse than in the region.
New verification measures are needed
Andrey Bystritsky, chairman of the board of the Valdai International Discussion Club, commenting on the fate of the treaty, decree that the United States bears responsibility for the current situation. “The effectiveness of this particular instrument is a separate issue, that it as a fact of control and confidence-building measures has disappeared.
Nevertheless, according to him, there is still hope. “The Russian Foreign Ministry has published proposals on mutual security guarantees, and now there is a moment for both NATO countries and Russia to take steps towards strengthening security measures. He spoke in favor of discussing these issues, his attitude and some European politicians,” Bystritsky added.
Expert, permission to use transparency mechanisms in the future would help to avoid what is happening now, namely “hysteria in Western countries” about the alleged threat from Russia. “Today, the task of sane politicians is to take confidence measures,” the analyst concluded.