Reports about Washington’s intention to withdraw from the treaty, which enables its 34 participants to fly over other countries' territories to check on compliance with disarmament agreements, first emerged in October.
"The US has not made any official statement on its plans to leave the Open Skies Treaty. However, we regret its possible intention to do so over Russia's alleged violations. If Washington decides to abandon the deal, we will be forced to provide an adequate response. We believe it is too early to discuss publicly what measures we could implement", Ermakov said.
He reaffirmed Moscow's call to save the Treaty on Open Skies as “one of the few remaining pillars of European security architecture”.
"We have communicated our stance to our US colleagues. Unfortunately, the US keep repeating their traditional and absolutely groundless claims of Russia's alleged non-compliance with the treaty, instead of thoroughly analysing the situation and ways to preserve the agreement", the official argued.
"The attempts to put the blame on Russia are counterproductive and are beneath criticism. We also have many questions regarding the US' and other NATO member states' implementation of the Open Skies Treaty. However, we prefer not discussing the withdrawal, but looking for decisions capable of removing the mutual concerns together", Ermakov concluded.
Washington has recently announced that it is considering withdrawing from the agreement, claiming a potential breach of the agreement by Russia and security concerns. Moscow has denied all the allegations.
