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Diplomat says US had chance to rejoin Open Skies deal even after lawmakers okayed pullout

According to Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov, three days after the document had been sent to the US, the Americans reiterated that they had no intention of rejoining the treaty

MOSCOW, June 2. /TASS/. Russia gave the United States one more chance to rejoin the Treaty on Open Skies after the State Duma had approved Moscow’s withdrawal from the accord, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said in an interview with the Lenta.ru news outlet.

"On May 24, five days after the State Duma had passed a bill terminating the Treaty on Open Skies, we handed a multi-page document over to the Americans. We once again explained for the umpteenth time where things stood with the accord and what our approach to it was. The document particularly quoted the statements that Joe Biden had made during his election campaign," Ryabkov pointed out. "We drew our American colleagues’ attention to the fact that there still was time and they had a chance to clearly announce plans to return to the treaty. Then we would probably have had the opportunity to halt the domestic procedures, hit the pause button and continue domestic discussions," he specified.

According to the Russian deputy foreign minister, three days after the document had been sent to the US, the Americans reiterated that they had no intention of rejoining the treaty. "The Americans filled their announcement with numerous false and irrelevant arguments politicizing the issue to the greatest extent possible. They once again made it clear that the United States is guided by completely different ideas and preferences in this situation. The US doesn’t care about the fate of the Open Skies Treaty nor does it care about the future of European security," the senior Russian diplomat emphasized.

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