Trump plans to pull out of nuke pact with Russia

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said he plans to pull out of a major arms control treaty with Russia, claiming the Kremlin breached the accord on intermediate-range nuclear weapons.

“We’re not going to let them violate a nuclear agreement,” Mr. Trump said on Saturday after a campaign rally in Elko, Nevada.

“We’re going to terminate the agreement.”

The US has been warning Russia it could resort to strong countermeasures unless Moscow complies with international commitments to arms reduction under the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, a pact struck in the 1980s.

North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) defense ministers earlier this month discussed concerns that Russia was developing a medium-range ballistic missile.

The US ambassador to NATO, Kay Bailey Hutchison, has said Russia’s non-compliance would compel the US to match its capabilities to protect the interests of the US and European allies.

NATO has credited the INF treaty with playing a crucial role in ensuring security for 30 years by ending the proliferation of ground-launched intermediaterange nuclear missiles.

Mr. Trump’s comments on Saturday came as National Security Adviser John Bolton was headed to Russia, Azerbaijan, Armenia and Georgia.

In Moscow, he was expected to meet with the Russian defense and foreign ministers as a followup to Mr. Trump’s meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Helsinki in July.

Mr. Trump may meet with Mr. Putin next month in Paris during the commemoration marking the centenary of the end of World War I, or at the G20 summit in Buenos Aires that begins Nov. 30, according to a US official. —