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Mr Putin made the comment at his annual end of year press conference in 2018, an event where Russian and international media ask the Russian President questions surrounding domestic and
foreign policy. President Putin gave a surprising reply when asked by a journalist: "How can you calm down my son, who like me is now scared of nuclear war?" He said: "I think
you are right. If something happens, it could lead to the end of civilisation or the planet. It's regretful that this tendency is growing." Mr Putin also took the opportunity to
make another jibe at President Donald Trump. Referring to the US's withdrawal from the INF treaty, he appeared to blame the US for the rise in arms race fears. He added: "We are
seeing a breakdown in treaties that prevented this." The 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF) signed between Washington and the Soviet Union barred the use of the two
nations’ land-based ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, and missile launchers with that could hit targets from intermediate range, set at distances between 500km range and 5,500km range
depending on the type of system. The treaty was abandoned officially by the US in August. President Donald Trump announced in October 2018 that he wanted to pull American out of the
Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF), accusing Moscow of violating the terms of the nuclear arms agreement. But the Kremlin has rejected the accusations, stressing that the
scrapping of the INF treaty would force Russia to take measures to ensure its security. Now both countries are testing missiles systems which would have previously been banned under the 1987
agreement. READ MORE: IRAN PANIC: ROYAL NAVY DELIVER STARK WARNING TO 'AGGRESSIVE' TEHRAN The Moscow Times that Mr Putin questioned the reliability of Mr Trump's promise,
citing that the US stayed in Afghanistan for years despite saying many times that it would leave. He also made time to talk about the UK, but made a damning claim that British Russian
relations were at a "dead end". A journalist asked Mr Putin about relations between the two countries and the ramifications of Brexit. President Putin replied: “Russian-British
relations are at a dead-end and it’s in the interest of both countries to solve this.” His comments came a month after the European Union had endorsed Theresa May’s withdrawal agreement, but
in January 2019 it would be humiliatingly rejected by the Houses of Parliament by 432 votes to 202.