Minsk will analyze the situation with the Open Skies Treaty (OON) in the context of its practical implementation with Moscow. This was announced on Wednesday, November 20, by the press secretary of the Belarusian Foreign Ministry Anatoly Glaz.
“We will analyze the current situation, including in the context of the practical implementation of the DON by Belarus together with Russia within the framework of the group of states parties to the Treaty, created in accordance with paragraph 3 of Section II of Article III of the DON,” RIA Novosti quotes Glaz.
The day before, on January 19, the head of the State Duma Defense Committee, Vladimir Shamanov, said that the Russian side would make a final decision on the legislative consolidation of Russia’s withdrawal from the Open Skies Treaty (OST) based on how the dialogue with the new administration of the US President-elect Joe Biden would develop. The deputy stressed that this will take 1-3 months.
On January 15, the Russian Foreign Ministry announced that Russia was starting domestic procedures for the country’s withdrawal from the Open Skies Treaty. On January 17, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova stressed that the country’s withdrawal from the Don was not a demonstration for the new Biden administration. She pointed out that it was the withdrawal of the United States from the OST that upset the balance of interests of the states parties to the treaty. At the same time, it became closed for Russia to monitor the territory of the United States, while the American side can receive information about the Russian Federation through its NATO allies.
In May, US President Donald Trump announced his country’s withdrawal from the agreement. His decision was condemned in Europe and Russia. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov suggested in July that the Open Skies Treaty could collapse in a “domino effect” after the US withdraws from it. On November 22, Washington confirmed that it is no longer a party to the open skies treaty.
The Open Skies Treaty was signed in 1992 and entered into force in 2002. It allows member states to make reconnaissance flights over each other’s territories.
