Russia doesn’t exclude any steps on its part during the upcoming conference of the signatories to the Treaty on Open Skies due to take place on July 6, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Tuesday, APA reports citing TASS.
The Russian top diplomat stressed that the key condition for Russia’s participation in the treaty was a possibility to survey the United States’ territories. "As for our possible actions during the extraordinary conference of the Open Skies Treaty member states on July 6, we have already said that the key condition for our ratification of the Treaty on Open Skies was a possibility to survey the United States’ territory. And everyone understands that perfectly well," he said.
"We will see the reaction of our Western colleagues during this conference, what Europe thinks about it. We don’t rule out any options of our actions but we want to hear what the rest have to say. Let us wait and see," he added.
According to the Russian top diplomat, Russia sees in its approaches under the Open Skies Treaty no reasons "that could justify the United States’ unilateral steps towards ruining yet another multilateral instrument that has served as a cornerstone of the strategic stability system in the recent decades."
The minister noted that Russia was well aware of the "concrete concerns" voiced in its respect under the treaty, such as a ban on flights within a ten-kilometer zone along Abkhazia’s and South Ossetia’s borders and distance limits on flights over the westernmost Kaliningrad Region.
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