March 2 According to a report by Sputnik Satellite Network on the 2nd, Valenkina Matvienko, chairman of the Russian Federation Council, said that if the United States takes the same steps, Russia is willing to return to the Open Sky Treaty, but the United States has not yet made a decision on it.
“If the U.S. returns to the treaty, we will also,” Mattevienko said, revealing that the U.S. is researching and evaluating it and has not yet been decided.
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.
U.S. President Trump announced in May 2020 that the United States had initiated the withdrawal process from the Open Skies Treaty on the grounds that Russia violated the Treaty.
Russia has repeatedly refuted the accusations of default by the United States.
On November 22, 2020, the U.S. government announced that the United States officially withdrew from the Open Skies Treaty.
On January 15, 2021, the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement on its website that Russia began to start domestic procedures for withdrawing from the Open Skies Treaty.
