MOSCOW, Feb 13 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Russia will be forced to retaliate if the United States decides to withdraw from the Treaty on Open Skies, a senior Russian diplomat said.
However, it is premature to discuss what the retaliation would involve as Washington has not yet announced the withdrawal, said Vladimir Yermakov, director of the Non-Proliferation and Arms Control Department of the Russian Foreign Ministry.
Moscow relies on the sanity of its foreign partners and calls for the preservation of the treaty “as one of the few remaining pillars of the security architecture in Europe,” he said.
While the White House mulls pulling out of the treaty, Congress is considering the Open Skies Treaty Stability Act, which, if passed, will prevent the president from unilaterally withdrawing the United States from the pact.
The Treaty on Open Skies took effect in 2002 and currently has 34 party states, including Russia, the United States and some other members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
The confidence-building and arms-control agreement has established a system of unarmed surveillance flights over its members to gather information about their military forces and activities.
Russia and the United States, the world’s two biggest nuclear powers, have used it to keep an eye on each other’s activities, but senior U.S. Democratic lawmakers said last month they believe President Donald Trump may pull Washington out of the pact.
A US exit from the treaty would further erode the global arms control architecture which is under pressure since the demise in August of a landmark nuclear arms control pact.
The last remaining major nuclear arms control treaty between the United States and Russia, New START, is due to expire in February 2021 and Moscow has warned there is already not enough time left to negotiate a full-fledged replacement. — NNN-AGENCIES
