03:09Switzerland: Bolton warns Russia against midterm election meddling
SOT, John Bolton, US National Security Advisor: *TRANSCRIPTION TO FOLLOW*
US National Security Advisor John Bolton said he warned Russia that Washington would not "tolerate meddling" in the 2018 US midterm elections, after talks with his during a press conference following a meeting with his Russian counterpart Nikolai Patrushev in Geneva on Thursday.
Commenting on his hours-long meeting with Patrushev, Bolton said progress was made in some areas but not in the issue of alleged election meddling. "I made it clear we wouldn’t tolerate meddling in 2018 and we were prepared to take necessary steps to prevent it from happening," he said. Bolton said the issue had stopped the two sides from emanating a final statement.
Bolton said he and Patrushev had discussed a gradual withdrawal of Iranian forces from Syria. "Our objective is that all Iranian forces return to Iran. That would be an objective that I think President Putin would share. It's far from easy to achieve, and so we talked about a variety of ways in which it might be accomplished through a series of steps," Bolton said referring to his meeting with Patrushev.
Any geographic constriction of Iranian forces would not be exchanged for a suspension of US oil sanctions on Iran set for November, Bolton said. "The sanctions are coming back into effect, that's clear."
When asked whether US President Donald Trump was a security risk, Bolton said "of course not, that's a silly question." "Honestly, have a little faith in the American people who elected him President."
The meeting between Bolton and Patrushev came following a new set of US sanctions imposed on Russia. It was the first high-level meeting since US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin's summit in Helsinki in mid-July.
03:09SOT, John Bolton, US National Security Advisor: *TRANSCRIPTION TO FOLLOW*
US National Security Advisor John Bolton said he warned Russia that Washington would not "tolerate meddling" in the 2018 US midterm elections, after talks with his during a press conference following a meeting with his Russian counterpart Nikolai Patrushev in Geneva on Thursday.
Commenting on his hours-long meeting with Patrushev, Bolton said progress was made in some areas but not in the issue of alleged election meddling. "I made it clear we wouldn’t tolerate meddling in 2018 and we were prepared to take necessary steps to prevent it from happening," he said. Bolton said the issue had stopped the two sides from emanating a final statement.
Bolton said he and Patrushev had discussed a gradual withdrawal of Iranian forces from Syria. "Our objective is that all Iranian forces return to Iran. That would be an objective that I think President Putin would share. It's far from easy to achieve, and so we talked about a variety of ways in which it might be accomplished through a series of steps," Bolton said referring to his meeting with Patrushev.
Any geographic constriction of Iranian forces would not be exchanged for a suspension of US oil sanctions on Iran set for November, Bolton said. "The sanctions are coming back into effect, that's clear."
When asked whether US President Donald Trump was a security risk, Bolton said "of course not, that's a silly question." "Honestly, have a little faith in the American people who elected him President."
The meeting between Bolton and Patrushev came following a new set of US sanctions imposed on Russia. It was the first high-level meeting since US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin's summit in Helsinki in mid-July.