Moscow will not wait indefinitely for the United States to decide on its position on returning to the Open Skies Treaty: domestic procedures for Russia’s withdrawal from the Treaty continue, and Western partners should not waste time, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said in an interview with RIA Novosti.
He noted that recently, considerable attention has been drawn to the fact that the Russian side at a high official level announced the possibility of correcting its position on the launch of internal procedures preceding the withdrawal from the Treaty, if there are signals from Washington that the United States intends to return to the Don.
“This is really so, and we leave the door open. But our colleagues in Washington and other NATO capitals must understand that we, too, will not wait indefinitely for them to finally gather their thoughts, analyze something, weigh something for and against, and it will be determined whether the US is ready or not ready to return to the Don”, – Ryabkov said.
He stressed that “the internal preparations for withdrawing from the Treaty have not been stopped, they are going on as usual”.
“When it is over, and if by that time the United States does not inform us of its readiness to return to the Don, Russia will transmit to the depositories – Hungary and Canada – a note stating that it is withdrawing from the Treaty. And from that moment a six-month period will begin, determined by itself. Our internal work continues every day and steadily, our colleagues in Washington and other NATO capitals should be very aware of this, and not waste time if they are ready to return to normalcy in this area. Time will end sooner or later”, – Ryabkov stated.