text: Russian Senator Aleksey Pushkov, former chairman of the State Duma Committee on International Affairs, said after Bolton's appointment: "Bolton, along with Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld, was an ardent supporter of the war in Iraq. A supporter of jihadists for the sake of overthrowing [Syrian President Bashar al-Assad]. A great specialist in interventions and aggression, and adept at the use of force. McMaster is a general. Bolton is the ideologue of a new cold war, a convinced opponent of Russia."
  In a June 2017 article entitled "Vladimir Putin looked Trump in the eye and lied to him. We negotiate with Russia at our peril," Bolton called Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections "a true act of war." As Trump's national security advisor in July 2018, Bolton referred to the investigation into the Russian interference as "the Russia witch hunt".
  In a December 2021 article entitled "Now Is the Time for NATO to Stand Up to Russia," Bolton called for an aggressive response to Moscow's troops build-up along the Ukraine border, before the full-scale invasion commenced in February 2022.
  On July 6, 2023, U.S. President Joe Biden approved the provision of cluster munitions to Ukraine. Bolton hailed the decision as "an excellent idea".
  China
  In 2018, Bolton criticized Washington's One-China policy, under which Taiwan, officially known as the Republic of China, is not recognized as an independent nation, with recognition being given only to the People's Republic of China.