Russia's Open Skies pact exit 'not message to Biden'

Russia's flagged withdrawal from the Open Skies Treaty should not be interpreted as sending a message to the incoming administration of US President-elect Joe Biden, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.

"I was surprised to hear the editor-in-chief of one of our liberal media outlets saying that Russia's withdrawal from the Treaty on Open Skies was a kind of demonstration for the future US administration. It is not a serious analysis. Moreover, it is a wrong interpretation," she said in an interview with the Voskresny Vecher (Sunday Evening) program on the Rossiya-1 television channel.

The treaty was intended to build trust between Russia and the West by allowing the accord's more than three dozen signatories to conduct reconnaissance flights over one another's territories to collect information about military forces. More than 1,500 flights have been conducted under the treaty, aimed at fostering transparency about military activity and helping monitor arms control agreements.

Russia's Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Friday that Moscow is launching the relevant procedures to withdraw from the pact. It called the US withdrawal from the treaty last year "significantly upended the balance of interests of signatory states", adding that Moscow's proposals to keep the treaty alive after the US exit have been cold-shouldered by Washington's allies.

Zakharova said Russia's move was a response to the decisions of US President Donald Trump's administration that had been taken well before the transition to the Biden administration. Biden takes office on Wednesday.

Trump pulled the US out of the treaty, arguing that Russian violations made it untenable for the US to remain a party. Russia denied breaching the treaty, which came into force in 2002.The European Union has urged the US to reconsider and called on Russia to stay in the pact.

According to the Russian statement, Moscow will advise other signatories to the deal after it has completed the domestic procedures for the withdrawal.

Moscow has warned that the US withdrawal will erode global security by making it more difficult for governments to interpret the intentions of other nations.

"It was their decision, hence, we are closing this topic when they are still in office," Zakharova said of the outgoing US administration. "It is in no way a signal for the future. It is the closure of the dossier that was topical under the (Trump) administration. We are not seeking to match anyone."

She said she had received messages from Trump's supporters via social media inquiring about Russian citizenship.

"The most frequent commentary I receive via social networks from the US is how to get Russian citizenship," said Zakharova, adding that some Republican supporters feared possible persecution because of their political views.

In the wake of a riot at the US Capitol in Washington on Jan 6, US social media company Twitter said it had permanently blocked access to Trump's personal account due to his violations of the platform's rules and also for fear he might try to trigger further unrest.

Agencies contributed to this story.