National security advisor John Bolton met with Russian President Vladimir Putin for 90 minutes Tuesday and agreed to have President Trump meet with Putin next month on the sidelines of a World War I commemoration being held in Paris.
The two leaders plan a “normal, bilateral meeting” on Nov. 11, Bolton told reporters Tuesday. It would be the first such encounter between the two presidents since July, when they met in Helsinki. That meeting was marked by Trump’s apparent acceptance of Russian statements that Moscow didn’t meddle in the 2016 election, a view quickly refuted by top U.S. intelligence officials and lawmakers from both parties.
The new agreement to meet couldn’t mask continuing tensions between the former Cold War foes. Bolton reiterated Trump’s vow to formally withdraw from the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty “in due course,” saying Russian violations of the agreement are “long and deep.” Russia disputes that charge, and Putin started off the meeting saying that U.S. sanctions and other actions against his country are “absolutely unprovoked.”
Bolton said he raised the issue of Russian meddling in the 2016 election, adding that while evidence suggests the interference didn’t change the final outcome, it taught Moscow a lesson: “don’t mess with American elections.” Putin has repeatedly denied those charges and a Russian official said the issue was raised but not discussed.
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The U.S. plans to leave the INF treaty follows increased sanctions on Russia to punish the Kremlin for its 2016 election interference and for the attempted nerve-agent assassination of a former Russian spy in England earlier this year. Bolton said the administration hasn’t decided on a second wave of sanctions for Russia’s chemical weapons use scheduled for November.
“It’s sometimes surprising to see how the United States makes absolutely unprovoked steps with regard to Russia,” Putin told Bolton through a translator. “We practically haven’t reacted to a single one of your steps but they just go on and on.”
In another sign of the tensions, at the start of their meeting, the Russian leader asked Bolton if the eagle on the seal of the U.S., which clutches olive branches in one claw and arrows in the other, “has eaten all the olives, leaving only arrows?”
Bolton responded: “I didn’t bring any more olives.”
“I thought so,” Putin said.
Bolton Says Trump and Putin Will Meet in Paris Next Month (Bloomberg Politics)