MOSCOW. May 28 (Interfax) - Russia was right to embark on the path towards denouncing the Open Skies Treaty, as is evident from a recent announcement by the United States of its unpreparedness to return to the treaty, the head of the Duma foreign affairs committee, Leonid Slutsky, said.
"U.S. claims of having no intention to return to the Open Skies Treaty confirm the rightness of the Russian course for its denunciation," Slutsky told journalists on Thursday.
Russia cannot continue playing "a one-goal game" with Europe being reluctant to provide legal guarantees that Open Skies treaty data from overflights of Russia would not be passed to the U.S., he said.
"We have got to protect our national security interests and pursue our policy on equal and par footing. The blame for the actual destruction of the Treaty lies entirely with Washington. All our steps are dictated by the need to respond with measures," Slutsky said.