Russia says leaving Open Skies mly treaty

MOSCOW: Russia on Friday said it was withdrawing from the Open Skies treaty, undermining a post-Cold War defence accord that allows its signatories to carry out unarmed surveillance flights over each other’s territories.

Citing "lack of progress" on maintaining the functioning of the treaty after the United States withdrew from it last year, the Russian foreign ministry said in a statement it was beginning "domestic procedures for the Russian Federation’s withdrawal from the Open Skies treaty." The agreement was signed soon after the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1992.