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Reuters
WASHINGTON
President Donald Trump's national security adviser, John Bolton, will visit Moscow next week for talks that may include telling Russian officials that the United States plans to withdraw from the landmark Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty.
While Bolton will discuss other major topics with Russian officials, including North Korea, Ukraine and Syria, the 1987 accord between the United States and the former Soviet Union is also expected to come up.
The INF treaty, negotiated by then-President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev and ratified by the US Senate in 1988, required elimination of short-range and intermediate-range nuclear and conventional missiles by both countries.
The United States believes Russia is in violation of the accord. The New York Times said Bolton would tell Moscow that Washington planned to withdraw from the treaty. White House officials did not deny the report. A senior Trump administration official said two administrations had tried to bring Russia back into compliance with the treaty.
"Despite our objections, Russia continues to produce and field prohibited cruise missiles and has ignored calls for transparency,"the official said.
Withdrawing from the INF treaty could have major implications for US defence policy in Asia and towards its main strategic rival there, China, with which Trump is engaged in a trade war.
