Today, December 18, Russia officially ended its participation in the Open Skies Treaty (OST).
Moscow left the Don “with the awareness of the great work that had been done to preserve its viability.”
The corresponding was made by the press service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation.
Representatives of the foreign policy department regret to note the fact that the efforts made by Moscow did not make it possible to preserve the Treaty in the form in which it was intended by the authors.
He fell victim to the internal struggle of various influence groups in the United States, in which the “hawks” gained the upper hand. Washington’s policy of destroying previously reached agreements in the field of arms control has prevailed, the statement says.
But even in these conditions, aggravated by the US withdrawal from the Don Treaty, Russia continued to seek compromises, offering different options for solving the problem.
However, for a number of participating states, bloc discipline turned out to be more important than the interests of peace and international security, the document emphasizes.
Therefore, Moscow had no choice – the country withdrew from the Treaty because it does not intend to ignore national interests, says the Foreign Ministry.
“The entire responsibility for the degradation of the treaty regime lies with the initiator of the collapse of the Don Treaty – the United States of America,” the ministry concluded.
