The
move, announced by Russia's foreign ministry, comes days before
U.S. President-elect Joe Biden's Jan. 20 inauguration amid fears
of a burgeoning arms race. Moscow's last major nuclear arms pact
with Washington is set to expire next month.
The United States left the Open Skies arms control and
verification treaty in November, accusing Russia of violating
it, something Moscow denied.
Russia said in a statement that Moscow had made specific
proposals to other members to mitigate against the impact of the
U.S. exit but that those proposals were not backed by
Washington's allies.
Moscow will formally notify other member states about its exit
once it has completed unspecified withdrawal procedures at home,
it said. The exit process usually takes months to be finalised.
Russia has raised concerns that despite leaving the treaty
Washington could potentially retain access to overflight
intelligence gathered by allies who remain members in the
treaty.
The Kommersant newspaper reported earlier that Moscow had tried
to get guarantees from other countries that they would not share
such intelligence with Washington but had not been given any
assurances.
Arms control tensions have been rising between Moscow and
Washington and New START, their last remaining major nuclear
arms control treaty, is set to expire in February.
Biden has said he's keen to renew it but it remains unclear for
how long.
(Reporting by Tom Balmforth and Maria Kiselyova; editing by
Steve Orlofsky)
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