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Russian President Vladimir Putin submitted a bill to the State Duma on denouncing the Treaty on Open Skies, TASS reported on Tuesday, citing the lower house’s database.

"To denounce the Treaty on Open Skies signed in the city of Helsinki on March 24,1992," the document said. An explanatory note says that the Treaty "contributed to significantly building trust in the military field." Russia made a great contribution to its implementation and every year hosted and carried out the biggest number of observation flights and was the first to create and start using digital surveillance equipment.

"On November 22, 2020 the US used a far-fetched pretext to leave the Treaty, thus significantly disrupting the balance of interests of the parties to the Treaty achieved when it was signed. Thus, a serious damage was dealt to observing the Treaty and its significance in building trust and transparency, and a threat to Russia’s national security emerged. Amid these circumstances, a decision was made on launching inter-state procedures on Russia’s withdrawal from the Treaty," the explanatory note reads. The Russian government has approved the bill.