February 11th local time, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said that if the United States reconsiders its decision to withdraw from the Open Skies Treaty, Russia may consider suspending its domestic procedures for withdrawing from the Treaty, but Russia will not make any concessions.
On January 15, the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced the launch of domestic procedures for withdrawing from the Open Skies Treaty.
Since then, Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov has said that if the United States resumes the full implementation of the Open Skies Treaty, Russia will treat the Treaty in a constructive manner.
The Open Skies Treaty was signed in 1992 and became one of the post-Cold War initiatives to build strategic security confidence in Europe.
The treaty has been implemented since 2002, allowing participating countries to disclose and collect information on military forces and activities with each other.
At that time, U.S. President Trump announced in May 2020 that the United States had initiated the withdrawal process from the Open Sky Treaty on the grounds that Russia violated the Treaty, which Russia has repeatedly refuted.
In November 2020, the U.S. government announced its official withdrawal from the Open Skies Treaty.
