Evo Morales Slams US Proposed INF Treaty Withdrawal
TEHRAN (Tasnim) - Bolivia’s leader Evo Morales has called the United States an enemy of world peace after US President Donald Trump said he wanted to quit a historic nuclear treaty with Russia.
"Trump threatens to send his troops to the Mexican border against thousands of Central American migrants, after announcing the US withdrawal from the Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces (INF) treaty with Russia. Thus, the US is the enemy of world peace and human rights," Morales tweeted.
Trump was heavily criticized for his decision – subject to Congressional approval – by ex-Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, who co-signed the landmark treaty with then US President Ronald Reagan. The Kremlin called the US move "dangerous."
US National Security Adviser John Bolton said Tuesday that Washington had not made a final decision on the deployment of US missiles in Europe following Trump's recent announcement of plans to withdraw from the INF Treaty, Sputnik reported.
"We're a long way from any decision on those kinds of questions," Bolton told reporters at a press conference following his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow.
"The problem is, there are Russian INF-violating missiles in Europe now. The threat is not American withdrawal from the INF treaty, the threat is the Russian missiles already deployed," he added.
"On the conceptual possibility of universalizing the treaty, yes, that is something we thought of as far back as 2004, and some efforts were made to see if it might be possible to extend the treaty… but they all failed," Bolton said.
Last week, Donald Trump announced that the United States would withdraw from the treaty because Moscow was allegedly violating the agreement.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov refuted Trump's claims and stressed that Russia would be forced to take measures to ensure its security if the United States started to covertly or openly develop weapons prohibited under the agreement.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Monday that Moscow would decide on its stance on the issue once the United States gave official clarifications regarding Trump's decision. Lavrov also said that any actions by Washington in that area would be met with counteractions.
The INF Treaty was signed in 1987 and became a landmark agreement that required the Soviet Union and the United States to cut their nuclear arsenals. Moscow and Washington pledged to destroy their ground-launched ballistic and cruise missiles with ranges between 310 to 3,400 miles.