US President Donald Trump said on Saturday that his country will pull out of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty with Russia, a decades-old pact limiting strategic weapons development.

Trump made the remarks to reporters after attending a rally in the state of Nevada. He accused Russia of violating the 1987 treaty without providing any evidence.

"The agreement has been violated for many years," he said, adding that "we'll have to develop those weapons."

Trump's words came as National Security Adviser John Bolton headed to Russia on Saturday to reportedly tell Russian leaders about the US plan to exit the landmark deal.

The INF treaty, signed by the former Soviet Union and the United States, bans the development, deployment, and testing of ground-launched ballistic or cruise missiles with ranges between 300 miles (483 km) and 3,400 miles (5,472 km).

Moscow and Washington have repeatedly accused each other of violating the treaty.

In May, a Russian military official claimed that the United States has continued testing its missile defense systems and producing missiles which are prohibited by the INF treaty.

Russia: US withdrawal a 'dangerous step'

Russian President Vladimir Putin will seek an explanation on why Washington plans to pull out of an arms control treaty when he meets US National Security Adviser John Bolton in Moscow this week, RIA news agency quoted Putin's spokesman as saying.

Russia's deputy foreign minister said on Sunday that withdrawing from the nuclear treaty with Russia is a dangerous step for the US.

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

Russian state news agencies on Saturday also cited a foreign ministry source as saying that Washington's move to pull out of a landmark nuclear weapons treaty with Russia is motivated by a dream of becoming a single global superpower.

"The main motive is a dream of a unipolar world. Will it come true? No," a foreign ministry source told RIA Novosti state news agency. 

The official said that Russia has "many times publicly denounced the US policy course towards dismantling the nuclear deal." 

Washington "has approached this step over the course of many years by deliberately and step by step destroying the basis for the agreement," the official said, according to Russia's three main news agencies. 

"This decision is part of the US policy course to withdraw from those international legal agreements that place equal responsibilities on it and its partners and make vulnerable its concept of its own 'exceptionalism'," the official said.

(With inputs from agencies)