The document was sent to the speaker of the lower house of parliament on behalf of the country’s president.
As reported by TASS, Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday submitted to the State Duma a bill denouncing the Open Skies Treaty (DON). The corresponding notification was published in the Duma electronic database.
“It was registered and sent to the chairman of the State Duma”, – reads the page of the bill.
On January 15, the Russian Foreign Ministry issued a statement on the launch of domestic procedures for withdrawing from the Don. The diplomatic service justifies this step by the lack of progress in removing obstacles to the continuation of the operation of the treaty in the new conditions – after the US withdrawn from it in November 2020. The US State Department said in April that the US authorities had not yet made a decision to return to the Don.
Commenting on today’s events in the State Duma, Deputy Chairman of the Federation Council Konstantin Kosachev said that the Open Skies Treaty is being destroyed by the United States with the passive position of its NATO allies.
“First and foremost, Russia has done everything to preserve the Don. It is being destroyed by the United States in the passive position of its NATO allies. For us, denunciation is a forced, but the only possible step in the conditions of the US withdrawal from the Treaty”, – he said.
According to him, the Federation Council will promptly consider the law on the denunciation of the Don, immediately after its adoption by the State Duma.