US is no longer State Party to Treaty on Open Skies

The United States is no longer a State Party to the Treaty on Open Skies, said Deputy Spokesman of the US State Department Deputy Cale Brown said on Sunday.

Brown said in an official statement, "On May 22, 2020, the United States exercised its right pursuant to paragraph 2 of Article XV of the Treaty on Open Skies by providing notice to the Treaty Depositaries and to all States Parties of its decision to withdraw from the Treaty, effective six months from the notification date."

"Six months having elapsed, the U.S. withdrawal took effect on November 22, 2020, and the United States is no longer a State Party to the Treaty on Open Skies," she added.

National Security Advisor Robert C. O'Brien said, "Today marks six months since the United States submitted our notice of withdrawal from the Treaty on Open Skies. We are now no longer a party to this treaty that Russia flagrantly violated for years. POTUS has never ceased to put America first by withdrawing us from outdated treaties and agreements that have benefited our adversaries at the expense of our national security."

Meanwhile, Sputnik quoted Leonid Slutsky, the head of the Russian lower house's International Affairs Committee, as saying that the NATO members should guarantee that they will not send data they obtain from flights under the Open Skies Treaty (OST) to Washington after the US withdrawal from the deal.

"The US withdrawal from the OST is a shrewd one-sided game. Russia will act in accordance with its national interests. The US allies from NATO must provide rigid guarantees to Moscow on the non-transfer of data to Washington. Our further actions will be defined only on such basis," Slutsky wrote on Twitter.

( With inputs from ANI )