"I think it will happen, no doubt about that. The British policy does drift toward the US. There are a number of reasons for that ... The British policy will inevitably conform to the American policy and those demands that Washington issues", Kelin said in an interview with Russian news outlet RBC when asked about possible new sanctions, adding that the political relations between London and Moscow are essentially almost frozen.
He added that Russian diplomats had talked with their UK colleagues about the matters pertaining to the Treaty on Open Skies, from which the US had recently withdrawn.
"We have indeed discussed those issues with British diplomats. They think that the treaty must be preserved. They do not like the US stance as there are not many remaining instruments for maintaining the conventional arms security in Europe", the ambassador said.
Earlier in the week, the US House of Representatives approved an amendment that would impose new sanctions on those who work on Russia's Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline to Germany. The US also slapped sanctions on the head of Chechen Republic, Ramzan Kadyrov.
The Open Skies Treaty was signed in 1992 and became effective ten years later. It allows 34 participating countries to conduct unarmed observation flights over each other's territories. In late May, US President Donald Trump declared that Washington was pulling out from the treaty on account of Moscow for allegedly not following it, and would not rejoin it "until they [Russia] adhere."
