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MOSCOW (Reuters) – The Kremlin said on Tuesday that a historic nuclear weapons treaty, Washington, said it wanted to quit, but that the US approach of leaving it without proposing a replacement was dangerous.
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu (front) meets US National Security Advisor John Bolton (back, president) at a meeting in Moscow (Russia), 23 October 2018. Press Service of the Russian Ministry of Defense / Russia via REUTERS [19659003] President Vladimir Putin was scheduled to discuss the matter in Moscow later Tuesday with US President Donald Trump's national security adviser John Bolton.
Bolton went to Moscow one day after Russia had announced that she would be forced to react in the same way in order to restore the military balance with the United States if Trump held the threat of leaving the treaty and developing new missiles.
Signed by then -NOUS President Ronald Reagan and Soviet reformist leader Mikhail Gorbachev in 1987, the Mid-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty required the elimination of all nuclear missiles and conventional short and medium range land held by the two countries of Europe.
His disappearance could point to a new arms race. Gorbachev, now 87, warned that unveiling it could have catastrophic consequences.
Bolton stated that in his opinion, the treaty was obsolete because it only concerned Russia and the United States and did not cover countries like China, Iran and South Korea. North, which he said would remain free to make intermediate-range ballistic missiles and cruise missiles.
"We have this very unusual situation where the United States and Russia are in a bilateral treaty, while other countries of the world are not bound by it," said Bolton on the radio Ekho Moskvy Monday.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said he was expecting Bolton to explain the US position to Putin.
"Of course, there are no weak points (in the treaty), but we are not happy to tear the agreement without planning anything new," Peskov told reporters.
"Rejecting the document, then (talking about) ephemeral possibilities of concluding a new document is a dangerous position."
Russia and the United States have long accused themselves of violating the terms of the treaty. they both deny.
The announcement of Trump's withdrawal worries German lawmakers, who are well aware that Berlin would be within reach of any intermediate-range ballistic missile deployed in the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad on the Baltic Sea.
Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said Tuesday that Germany would seek NATO's help to maintain the treaty between Russia and the United States and was ready to take action to force Moscow to comply with the pact.
Additional reports by Katya Golubkova in Moscow and Paul Carrel in Berlin; Written by Andrew Osborn; Richard Balmforth Edition
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