MOSCOW, June 2. /TASS/. Moscow exerted the maximum efforts and has now exhausted all resources in its attempts to persuade Washington to stay committed to the Treaty on Open Skies (TOS), Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said at a session of the Federation Council, which is considering the treaty’s denunciation.
"We exerted the maximum efforts to keep the United States committed to the treaty. We exhausted all resources for that and for this reason we believe it will be the optimal and correct decision to denounce the TOS," he said.
The Federation Council overwhelmingly voted for the denunciation of the TOS on Wednesday. All 152 upper house members supported the bill. On May 19, the bill was unanimously passed by the State Duma.
On January 15, the Russian Foreign Ministry issued a statement saying intra-state procedures of quitting the TOS had been launched, because there had been no progress in eliminating the obstructions to its further functioning in the new situation following the United States pullout in November 2020. The US Department of State in April said that the US authorities had not made a decision yet to resume compliance with the TOS for the time being. And on May 27, US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman told Ryabkov the United States had decided not to return to the TOS.