"There is a threat to national security": Putin approved Russia's withdrawal from the Don

On Monday, June 7, Vladimir Putin signed the federal law "On the denunciation by the Russian Federation of the Treaty on open skies," the Kremlin press service reported.

"To denounce the Open Skies Treaty signed in the city of Helsinki on March 24, 1992," the document says.

As noted in the statement of the State Legal Department, the agreement was ratified by Russia on May 26, 2001 and contributed to a significant strengthening of confidence in the military sphere.

It is indicated that Moscow has made a significant contribution to the implementation of the international treaty.

Thus, Russia was the first to create and start using digital surveillance equipment.

“The United States, under a far-fetched pretext, withdrew from the treaty, which significantly violated the balance of interests of the states parties to the treaty, achieved at its conclusion.

Thus, serious damage was done to the observance of the treaty and its significance in building confidence and transparency, and a threat to the national security of the Russian Federation arose.

In connection with these circumstances, a decision was made on the withdrawal of the Russian Federation from the treaty, ”the text specifies.

After Vladimir Putin approved the withdrawal from the Don, the official representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia, Maria Zakharova, posted on her Telegram channel a list of all violations of the Open Skies Treaty that the United States and Western countries made.

In particular, she recalled that in 2015 the United States made it impossible to conduct observation flights over its territory, refusing to provide a sufficient number of intermediate landings for Russian An-30B aircraft, and also established restrictions not provided for by the DON and contrary to ICAO recommendations.

“By its statements and actions, the United States incited other participating states (primarily Georgia) to violate the OST.

They also sent old aircraft in poor technical condition to carry out open skies missions, which posed a threat to the life and health of American and Russian flight participants, ”she wrote.

Zakharova also cited a number of situations in which Russia had claims against other countries, including Great Britain, France, Norway, Canada, Poland, Turkey and Georgia.

In addition, she noted that Russian efforts to preserve the Open Skies Treaty did not resonate either in Washington or in other capitals of the US allies.

“And although the participating states supported the DON, expressed regret over the decision of Donald Trump, but at the same time solidarized in the assessment that such a step by the United States was“ reasonable ”.

More weighty Russian concerns by our partners, as usual, were ignored, ”said the official representative of the Foreign Ministry.

Also on russian.rt.com Zakharova commented on the denunciation of Don

Russia would have suffered significant damage if it had retained its participation in this international agreement, says Vladimir Popov, Merited Military Pilot, Deputy Editor-in-Chief of Aviapanorama magazine.

According to him, Moscow simply retaliated against Washington's actions.

“According to such a campaign, the actions of our state, the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs were correct and unambiguous.

This was a demonstrative move by the United States.

The implementation of the treaty gave a great opportunity to go to peace or guarantee the peaceful existence of states, and to date, the United States has taken the first provocative step, directing everything to the collapse of these peace agreements, "said the interlocutor of RT.

Russia is forced to take steps similar to withdrawing from the Open Skies Treaty, State Duma deputy Ruslan Balbek told RT.

According to him, the world security system is being destroyed by the United States unilaterally, since America withdraws from international agreements.

“Thus, since the security system of the world order is collapsing, then we are not going to adhere to the old agreements at a loss.

You are not satisfied with the Open Skies Treaty, which means that you will not enter our air borders.

For every aggressive action you will receive a counteraction, ”said the parliamentarian.

Also on russian.rt.com, non-refundable: the Russian Foreign Ministry received a notification from the United States about the decision not to restore participation in the Don

Recall that in May 2020, Donald Trump (who at that time was the president of the United States) announced America's withdrawal from the Open Skies Treaty, allegedly due to non-compliance with established regulations by Russia.

Six months later, the procedure for Washington's withdrawal from the agreement was completed.

On January 15, 2021, the Russian Foreign Ministry announced the launch of domestic procedures for withdrawing from the Don.

On May 11, Vladimir Putin sent a draft federal law to the State Duma for consideration.

On May 19, the law was adopted by the State Duma, on June 2, approved by the Federation Council.

At the same time, at the end of May, Washington notified Moscow that it did not intend to return to compliance with the OST.

The Russian Foreign Ministry pointed out that "the full responsibility for the collapse of the treaty lies with the United States."

“We are convinced that the United States has made another gross political mistake. They missed the chance to make a positive contribution to the task of strengthening Europe's security on a reasonable basis. Ultimately, their own security will not be strengthened. For a long time Russia did everything possible to preserve the Don. We were patient and gave the US administration the opportunity to reconsider a previously short-sighted decision. However, this did not happen, ”the Russian Foreign Ministry said.