US ready to bolster nuclear arsenal: Trump

President Donald Trump has said the United States is ready to bolster its nuclear arsenal after announcing it is ditching a Cold War-era nuclear weapons agreement with Russia.

Trump on Saturday said that he was planning to abandon the decades-old Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF), over claims that Moscow violated it. The key arms control treaty was signed by President Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev, the last Soviet leader, in 1986.

Trump told reporters in Washington on Monday that Russia had "not adhered to the spirit of that agreement or to the agreement itself."

"Until people come to their senses, we will build it up," he said, referring to the US stockpile of nuclear weapons. "This should have been done years ago."

"It's a threat to whoever you want. And it includes China. And it includes Russia," he continued. "And it includes anybody else who wants to play that game. You can't do that. You can't play that game."

"Until they get smart, there's going to be nobody that's going to be even close to us,” the US president said.

The 1986 treaty banned all land-based missiles with ranges of 500 to 5,500 kilometers (310 to 3,420 miles) and included missiles carrying both nuclear and conventional warheads. The original ban between Moscow and Washington led to the elimination of 2,692 missiles.

The US claims that Russia’s newly-deployed Novator 9M729 cruise missiles fall in the banned category and pose a direct threat to members of the NATO military alliance. Russia finished testing the missile in 2014.

US Ambassador to NATO Kay Bailey Hutchison stirred tension earlier this month by warning that Washington would “take out” the missiles if necessary.

The issue is expected to overshadow US National Security Adviser John Bolton’s trip to Moscow.

Bolton, who is believed to have persuaded Trump to quit the INF, arrived in Moscow on Monday. He met with Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

Ahead of Bolton's arrival, Lavrov said Russia will be forced to take action if the United States begins developing new missiles after abandoning the treaty.

EA