MOSCOW, June 23. /TASS/. Russia doesn’t exclude any steps on its part during the upcoming conference of the signatories to the Treaty on Open Skies due to take place on July 6, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Tuesday.
The Russian top diplomat stressed that the key condition for Russia’s participation in the treaty was a possibility to survey the United States’ territories. "As for our possible actions during the extraordinary conference of the Open Skies Treaty member states on July 6, we have already said that the key condition for our ratification of the Treaty on Open Skies was a possibility to survey the United States’ territory. And everyone understands that perfectly well," he said.
"We will see the reaction of our Western colleagues during this conference, what Europe thinks about it. We don’t rule out any options of our actions but we want to hear what the rest have to say. Let us wait and see," he added.
According to the Russian top diplomat, Russia sees in its approaches under the Open Skies Treaty no reasons "that could justify the United States’ unilateral steps towards ruining yet another multilateral instrument that has served as a cornerstone of the strategic stability system in the recent decades."
The minister noted that Russia was well aware of the "concrete concerns" voiced in its respect under the treaty, such as a ban on flights within a ten-kilometer zone along Abkhazia’s and South Ossetia’s borders and distance limits on flights over the westernmost Kaliningrad Region.
As for flights near Abkhazia’s and South Ossetia’s borders, Lavrov recalled the existing procedures for flights over countries that are not signatories to the Open Skies Treaty. "We have been ready for years to look for compromise solutions on condition that Georgia stops violating the treaty and permits flights over its territory. It did not. And this is a flagrant violation of the treaty. Neither of our Western colleagues had any claims to Georgia and we were ready to negotiate this problem," he noted.
As for flights over the Kaliningrad Region, he pointed out to the fact that the treaty envisaged a similar regime of flights over Alaska and hence Russia’s restrictions on the distance of flights over the Kaliningrad Region merely mirrored those set by the United States for flights over Alaska. "Well, whereas the West could and still can, as long as the treaty is still in force for the United States as well, survey 90% of the Kaliningrad Region’s territory, we can survey less than three percent of Alaska’s. And neither of our Western colleagues has ever had any questions to the United States about that. But we continued to hold technical consultations along with an initiative group of Western countries and this artificially created problem around the Kaliningrad Region could have been resolved," Lavrov explained.
"A regular round of such consultations was held days before the Americans announced their decision to withdraw from this treaty," he noted. "And according to our Western colleagues, that round of consultations was quite constructive. I think that this is yet another evidence that the reasons for the United States’ decision to withdraw from the treaty were created deliberately."
US President Donald Trump declared on May 21 Washington was going to withdraw from the Treaty on Open Skies, which provides for inspection flights over member countries’ territories to monitor military activities. He motivated this step by Russia’s alleged violation of the treaty. US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo said in a written statement that the decision to withdraw from the treaty will come into effect in six months after May 22.
Moscow denies these accusations and puts forward counterclaims. Thus, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Russia has already voiced its own claims to the United States concerning this treaty’s implementation. According to Vladimir Yermakov, director of the Russian Foreign Ministry’s Non-Proliferation and Arms Control Department, Washington’s attempts to picture its withdrawal from the treaty as a reaction to Russia’s breaches are absolutely groundless.
The Treaty on Open Skies was signed in March 1992 in Helsinki by 23 member nations of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). The main purposes of the open skies regime are to develop transparency, render assistance in monitoring compliance with the existing or future arms control agreements and broaden possibilities for preventing crises and managing crisis situations. The treaty establishes a program of unarmed aerial surveillance flights over the entire territory of its participants. Now, the treaty has more than 30 signatory states. Russia ratified the Treaty on Open Skies on May 26, 2001.