According to a report by Russian Foreign Ministry on the 17th, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Zaharova said in an interview with Russian television on the 17th that Russia’s withdrawal from the Open Sky Treaty does not send a demonstration or signal to the U.S. President-elect Biden administration.
In an interview, she said, “I was surprised when one of the editors-in-chief of the ‘Free Media’ said that Russia’s withdrawal from the Open Sky Treaty was a demonstration of the future government.
This is not just an unserious analysis, which is completely wrong. The opposite is true.
Zaharova explained that Russia’s withdrawal from the treaty is in response to the decision made by the current U.S. President Trump administration before the new president takes office.
“This is their decision, so we end this topic during this [U.S.) administration. This is not a signal to the future (new government), but to end the issue with the (United States) government whose term is coming to an end.”
The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced on the 15th that Russia had initiated the process of withdrawing from the Open Sky Treaty.
The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that the reason for this decision was the lack of progress in removing obstacles to the continued implementation of the treaty under the new conditions after the withdrawal of the United States from the Treaty.
After the completion of the procedure, Russia will send a notice to the parties to the treaty. The United States announced its withdrawal from the Treaty on November 22, 2020.
In an interview, Zaharova said that Russia is ready to engage in a respectful dialogue with the new government of the United States, but does not expect that the relations between the two countries will improve significantly.
Commenting on the prospects for Russia-US relations after Biden took office, she said, “We don’t expect any significant improvement, and in principle we don’t expect any improvement, because people are still those people, and they have not changed their arguments.
In principle, we do not predict significant improvement. We are open to normal, respectful dialogue.”
A spokesman for the Russian Foreign Ministry also revealed that she often received messages from supporters of current U.S. President Trump on social media platforms, requesting clarification on the procedures for obtaining Russian citizenship.
Zaharova said that “At present, the most messages Americans send me through private messages on social media platforms are how to obtain Russian citizenship”, and pointed out that the senders of these messages are pro-Republican Americans.
Zaharova said Trump supporters fear persecution because of their political views. She concluded, “Welcome to the reality.”
