Russian Military Says Bolton Distorts Facts When Calls China Rising Threat

Former White House National Security Adviser John Bolton's recent claims about a growing threat from China are inaccurate, Russian Deputy Defense Minister Alexander Fomin said on Friday

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 03rd July, 2020) Former White House National Security Adviser John Bolton's recent claims about a growing threat from China are inaccurate, Russian Deputy Defense Minister Alexander Fomin said on Friday.

"Regarding John Bolton's thesis on the growing threat from China, I would like to emphasize that this is just a distortion of facts," Fomin told reporters.

The official went on to say that Bolton had gravely distorted real events surrounding the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty talks in his recently released book of memoirs, The Room Where It Happened.

The former White House national security adviser has claimed in his book that he had offered a joint exit from the now-defunct INF Treaty with Russia to US President Donald Trump, but to no avail.

Bolton warned Trump that after Washington's unilateral withdrawal from the treaty, Moscow would follow suit while accusing the US of violating the agreement.

Fomin added that Russia did not see China's missile activities as a threat to security and a reason for the INF collapse.

"We do not see China's activities in the missile sector as a threat to security, and even more so, as a reason for the destruction of the INF Treaty," he said.

The last major arms control pact expires in early 2021. Trump has been indicating his intention to bring China on board with a new deal, but Beijing has consistently rejected the idea.