US withdrawal from nuclear arms deal dangerous step, says Russia

Agencies
October 22, 2018

Moscow, Oct 22: Withdrawing from a Cold War-era nuclear weapons treaty with Russia as US President Donald Trump has announced he plans to do is a dangerous step, Russia's deputy foreign minister warned on Sunday.

"This would be a very dangerous step that, I'm sure, not only will not be comprehended by the international community but will provoke serious condemnation," deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov told TASS state news agency.

The treaty is "significant for international security and security in the sphere of nuclear arms, for the maintenance of strategic stability," he stressed.

Russia condemned what he called attempts by the US to gain concessions "through a method of blackmail", he added.

If the US continues to act "clumsily and crudely" and unilaterally back out of international agreements "then we will have no choice but to undertake retaliatory measures including involving military technology," Ryabkov told RIA Novosti news agency.

"But we would not want to get to this stage," he added.

On Saturday, Trump announced US plans to leave the three-decade-old Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, known as the INF, signed in 1987 by the then US president Ronald Reagan.

"We're the ones who have stayed in the agreement and we've honored the agreement, but Russia has not unfortunately honored the agreement, so we're going to terminate the agreement and we're going to pull out," said Trump.

But Ryabkov on Sunday denied Trump's accusations, throwing the accusation back at Washington.

"We don't just not violate (the treaty), we observe it in the strictest way," he insisted.

"And we have shown patience while pointing out over the course of many years the flagrant violations of this treaty by the US itself."

US National Security Advisor John Bolton is set to arrive in Moscow on Sunday.

"We hope that we will hear from him during meetings, tomorrow and the day after, more substantively and clearly what the American side intends to undertake," said Ryabkov.

Earlier a foreign ministry source told Russian news agencies that the US move was connected to its "dream of a unipolar world", an argument that Ryabkov also advanced.

"Apparently the existence of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty creates problems for establishing a line of total US domination and supremacy in the military sphere," he said.

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News Network
January 31,2026

trumpkill.jpg

The US Department of Justice has released millions of new documents linked to the case of convicted child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, before removing some pages that contained complaints mentioning President Donald Trump.

Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said on Friday that approximately 3.5 million files were published to comply with the Epstein Transparency Act, following criticism that the administration had missed a December 19 deadline set by Congress.

The documents include FBI communications and complaints submitted as tips, some of which list comments mentioning Trump and others who had social or professional ties to Epstein.

Trump has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing in relation to his past association with Epstein.

Pages removed from DOJ website

After their publication, pages containing complaints that mentioned Trump were removed from the DOJ website and now return a “page not found” message. Copies of the documents, however, have circulated widely on social media. CNN anchor Jake Tapper was among those who publicly noted that the pages had been taken down.

One complaint, filed by a friend of a victim, says Trump forced a girl aged 13–14 to perform “oral sex” approximately 35 years ago in New Jersey. The document states that an investigator was sent to Washington to conduct an interview.

Another complaint says Trump regularly paid an individual to perform sexual acts and adds that he was present when her newborn child was murdered by a relative. The paperwork notes that there was “no contact made” with the complainant.

A separate complaint, which provided no contact information, said “calendar girls” parties at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago involved children and sexual abuse. The document also names several public figures as present at such events.

In another account, a complainant said they witnessed a “sex trafficking ring” at Trump National Golf Club in Rancho Palos Verdes, California, in the mid-1990s. The person noted “threats” from Trump’s head of security if she spoke publicly about what she had seen.

Other figures mentioned in the files

The latest release also includes a draft email Epstein wrote to himself in 2013, referring to Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates. In the message, Epstein said Gates asked him to delete emails and referenced “personal matters.”

The DOJ has not provided a detailed explanation for why certain pages were removed after publication. The department said the document release was ongoing.

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