OREANDA-NEWS. Moscow has lost confidence in Washington, and now it should be restored in small steps. This was claimed by Deputy Foreign Minister of Russia, Sergey Ryabkov, during an interview with the newspaper Izvestia.

“We have lost confidence in Washington as a counterparty, and, probably, we need to start gradually restoring it,” the diplomat said. He added that in recent years, the White House has refused to fulfill its obligations often and terminated a number of international treaties.

So Ryabkov commented on the online conference of countries participating in the Treaty on Open Skies held on July 6 in an online format. It was convened after the United States decided to withdraw from the agreement.

On May 21, US President Donald Trump announced the withdrawal from the Treaty. According to him, Russia does not comply with its terms. In the Russian Foreign Ministry, this was called a “far-fetched pretext.”

The Treaty on Open Skies was signed in 1992. Now 34 countries are its participants. The agreement allows making inspection flights over the territory of other states.