Georgia, Tbilisi, April 6 / Trend, N.Kirtskhalia /
Georgia ceases cooperation with Russia within the Open Skies Treaty, the Georgian Foreign Ministry said.
"This move by the Georgian side responds to Russia's cessation of implementation of certain Treaty obligations, which began in 2010 and subsequent attempts of Russia to exploit Open Skies Treaty for the purpose of legitimizing the so-called independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. In particular, Russia used as pretext the provision of the Treaty, which precludes observation flights within 10 kilometers of the borders of those states, which are not party to the Treaty. Moscow attributes Abkhazia and South Ossetia to these territories," the statement says.
The Georgian Foreign Ministry says it is obvious that the Russian Federation cannot unilaterally alter the geographical coverage of the multilateral Treaty by purporting to recognize a new entity on the territory of a State Party.
"Georgia has made repeated efforts and together with its partners has called on the Russian Federation to return to full compliance with the Treaty obligations," the statement says.
Georgian Foreign Ministry says that by this decision Georgia will not allow any observation flights with the participation of the Russian Federation over the territory of Georgia.
"At the same time Georgia will not conduct observation flights over the territory of the Russian Federation.Georgia will resume implementation of the Treaty obligations vis-à-vis the Russian Federation upon the latter's return to full compliance with the Treaty," the statement says.
It says that all parties of the Treaty are informed about Tbilisi's decision.
The Treaty on Open Skies was signed in 1992 and ratified by all signatories in 1995. At present, its members are 34 states, including Russia / since 2001/. The main objective of the agreement is to develop openness, to assist in monitoring the implementation of existing or future agreements on arms control and enhancing opportunities on crisis prevention and crisis management within the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe.