US President Donald Trump's national security adviser John Bolton said on Thursday he had warned Moscow against meddling in the US midterm elections in November during talks with the head of Russia's National Security Council.
"I made it clear we wouldn't tolerate (election) meddling in 2018 and that we were prepared to take necessary steps to prevent it from happening," Bolton told a news conference after more than five hours of talks with his Russian counterpart Nikolai Patrushev in Geneva.
The United States has already imposed economic sanctions against Russia over its alleged meddling in the 2016 US presidential election. Moscow denies the allegations.
Bolton said differences over the alleged meddling had prevented the two sides from issuing a joint final statement after the first high-level meeting of its kind since Trump met President Vladimir Putin in Helsinki in July.
US President Donald Trump adjusts his earpiece as Russia's President Vladimir Putin reacts during a news conference in Helsinki, Finland, July 16, 2018. /VCG Photo
Bolton said he also raised with Patrushev the issue of tightening economic sanctions against Iran and said they had discussed a phased withdrawal of Iran's presence in Syria, but gave no details.
When he was meeting Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem this week, Bolton said the Trump administration's objective was to "put maximum pressure on the regime" by making sanctions "more extensive and more effective."
Commenting on Iran's role in Syria's long-running conflict, Bolton said: "Our objective is that all Iranian forces return to Iran ... And we talked about a variety of ways in which it might be accomplished through a series of steps."
US National Security Adviser John Bolton speaks during a news conference after a meeting with Russia's Nikolai Patrushev at the US Mission to the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, Aug. 23, 2018. /Reuters Photo
Patrushev said he and Bolton had broadly agreed to re-open communication lines between their respective foreign and defense ministries, the RIA news agency reported on Thursday.
Patrushev, who also said a broad agreement on restarting contacts between the two countries’ army chiefs-of-staff had been reached, said he had invited Bolton and US officials to Russia for future talks, but said no date had been agreed for a follow-up meeting.
(With input from Reuters)