Russia Forced to Denounce Open Skies Treaty After U.S. Unilateral Moves

 Russia was forced to denounce the Open Skies Treaty after Washington’s unilateral withdrawal, the Chinese Foreign Ministry’s spokesman, Wang Wenbin, said on Tuesday.

On Monday, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed into law a bill to denounce the treaty on observation flights.

“The primary reason for Russia’s withdrawal from the Open Skies Treaty is the United States’ unilateral exit from the deal in spite of the disagreement of the international community.

“This significantly undermined mutual trust and military transparency between the countries.

“The Russian side made efforts to save the treaty but did not achieve a positive reaction from the U.S. and other parties to the treaty,’’ Wang said.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry’s spokesman emphasised that the U.S. had been long affected global disarmament and arms control.

“We call on the U.S. side to take into consideration the global community’s concerns and to protect the global strategic stability, regional peace and security,’’ Wang concluded.