Donald Trump's security advisor wants him to end the nuclear missile treaty with Russia, according to reports

National Security Adviser John Bolton is reported to have asked President Donald Trump to come out of a Cold War era treaty that prevented the United States and Russia from producing certain missiles at the end of the Cold War era. intermediate reach.

Bolton, fierce opponent of attempts to limit US military capabilities, recommended that Washington withdraw from the 1987 Intermediate Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, The Guardian and The New York Times sources quoted as saying Friday. The treaty bans the production of all land-based nuclear and conventional missiles with a range of 500-5,500 km (310-3,420 km).

However, the United States and Russia accuse each other of breaking the deal, with tensions between long-time military rivals threatening to turn into a 21st century arms race.

President Ronald Reagan and Soviet Secretary-General Mikhail Gorbachev shake hands after signing on 1 June 1988 the ratification of the INF Treaty in the Great Kremlin at the Moscow Summit. In 2017, Mr Gorbachev said that the collapse of the threatened treaty could trigger an arms race. Wikimedia Commons

INF was widely regarded as a milestone for diplomacy when President Ronald Reagan and Soviet Union Secretary-General Mikhail Gorbachev met to sign the treaty in 1987. The two largest military powers in the world had been quarreling since decades but never fought directly in open conflict despite close calls. In December 2017, on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the signing of the treaty, Gorbachev warned of the "heavy consequences" of his collapse.

The Soviet Union collapsed only a few years after the signing of the treaty. When the global geopolitical map changed after 1991 and the United States launched a "war on terror" over the next decade, Bolton became one of the main opponents of the agreements limiting US military power. . In 2001, Bolton managed to convince President George W. Bush to abandon the Ballistic Missile Missile Treaty, which limited the US military and Russia to two major missile defense complexes, one hundred missiles each.

Russian President Vladimir Putin immediately opposed the initiative by telling NBC News in March this year that an "arms race had begun at this very moment."

Bolton had expressed a similar disgust for the INF. In August 2011, Paula A. DeSutter, former Assistant Secretary of State for Arms Control, Verification and Compliance, wrote an editorial The Wall Street Journal arguing that the current treaty framework did not address threats from Iran, which had become a growing missile power.

On 21 June, John Bolton (left), a national security adviser at the White House on 21 June, and Russian President Vladimir Putin (right) in his residence outside Moscow . Bolton has long sought to bring the United States out of arms control treaties with Russia. NICHOLAS KAMM / ALEXEY NIKOLSKY / AFP / Sputnik / Getty Images

In 2014, the United States accused Russia of violating INF by developing a new cruise missile that exceeded the limited scope of the treaty. The weapon in question was revealed in late 2017 as the 9M729 missile system, dubbed "SSC-X-8" by the US-led western military alliance NATO.

Moscow rejected these accusations and accused the US of not joining the INF by setting up a comprehensive missile defense system across Europe that, Putin warned, could be used against Russia . When negotiating the problem with the Russian authorities directly in June, Trump sent Bolton to do the job.