Washington
is moving ahead with its plan to withdraw from a nuclear treaty, US National
Security Adviser John Bolton said on Tuesday, signaling that a meeting with
Russian President Vladimir Putin did not change the White House's view.
Bolton
attended a 90-minute meeting with Putin in the Kremlin, where the Russian
president criticized the United States for what he described as a series of
free measures against Moscow.
Russia
has said that if US President Donald Trump fulfills his promise to withdraw the
country from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, Moscow will be
forced to respond to the same extent to restore military balance.
Even
so, speaking at a news conference after meeting with Putin, Bolton gave no
indication of a change of view on the treaty.
"There
is a new strategic reality," Bolton said, adding that a Cold War treaty no
longer meets the demands of today's world.
"The
formal notice of withdrawal has not yet been fulfilled, but this will be done
at the appropriate time."
Earlier,
in early remarks during the meeting with Bolton, Putin made a critical
reference to the United States.
"We
hardly respond to their measures, but they keep coming," Putin told
Bolton.
"On
the coat of arms of the United States there is an eagle holding 13 arrows in
one claw and one olive branch in the other." My question is if your eagle
devoured all the olives by leaving only the arrows? "
Signed
by then-US President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev in 1987,
the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty called for the elimination of
short and medium-range nuclear and conventional missiles by both countries.
