[Published: Wednesday October 24 2018]
 Putin meets Bolton amid nuclear treaty tensions
MOSCOW 24 Oct (ANA) - John Bolton, the US national security adviser, has met with Russian President Vladimir Putinin Moscow.
Speaking at a news conference after the talks on Tuesday, Bolton said Washington wanted to withdraw from a key nuclear weapons control treaty with Russia since it was confident Moscow had violated it.
He also said that the danger to Europe was not the prospective US pull out from the 31-year-old Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty but "the threat is the Russian missiles already deployed".
Bolton also pointed at China's massive intermediate-range capability as another key concern.
"The treaty was outmoded and being violated by other countries," he said. "Under that view, exactly one country was restrained by the INF - the United States."
On his part, Putin said Russia was sometimes surprised by what he said were unprovoked actions taken by the United States against Moscow.
He also poked fun at the official seal of the US, which includes a bald eagle holding a bundle of 13 arrows in one talon and an olive branch with 13 olives in another.
"I have a question: Has your eagle picked all the olives and only has arrows left?" Putin asked with a laugh.
But while underlining the differences between Russia and the US, Putin also emphasised the need to maintain a dialogue, saying he would be ready to meet with US President Donald Trump in Paris during centenary commemorations next month marking the end of World War I.
Bolton said he believed Trump would look forward to it, adding that it was important for Moscow and Washington to focus on areas where there was a possibility of mutual cooperation. "Hopefully, I will have some answers for you," he said. "But I didn't bring any more olives."
"That's what I thought," Putin quipped.(ANA)
FA/ANA/24 October 2018-------
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