Putin has suspended the agreement with the United States about the disposal of plutonium – RBC

President Vladimir Putin

Photo: Alexei Druzhinin/TASS

Russia has suspended the agreement with the US on plutonium disposition. The decision was made in connection with “threats to the strategic stability in the result of unfriendly actions” of the USA, stated in the decree of the President

Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on suspension of the agreement with the US on plutonium disposition. The document is published on the official Internet portal of legal information.

the Decision was made in connection “with a fundamental change of circumstances, the threats to strategic stability in a hostile action” in the United States against Russia, the failure of States to fulfil obligations for the disposal of excess weapons-grade plutonium in accordance with international treaties and based on the need for urgent measures to protect the security” of Russia, stated in the decree.

the Russian foreign Ministry was commissioned to send us a notification about the suspension of the agreement. The document came into force from the day of its signing.

the Agreement the parties signed in August 2000. It provided methods of disposal of surplus weapons-grade plutonium in Russia and the United States — in particular, by using the energy of nuclear reactors, disposal or transfer forms are not suitable for creating weapons. According to the document, the countries will begin to eliminate the “declassified” inventory of plutonium in the amount of 34 T.

In April this year Vladimir Putin at the media forum of regional and local media “Truth and justice” reported that, according to signed between the U.S. and Russia in the early 2000s to the agreement, the plutonium will be disposed of in a certain way, namely industrial”, for which “it was necessary to build special enterprises”. “We have fulfilled their obligations, we are the company built, our American partners,” Putin said.

moreover, stressed the head of state, the United States announced that they intend to destroy accumulated highly enriched nuclear fuel in a manner which we agreed with them by signing a relevant agreement, and the other, diluting and disposing of it somewhere in certain tanks”. “This means that they retain a so-called return potential, i.e., it can remove, recycle, and again to turn into weapons-grade plutonium. So, we did not agree,” — said Putin.

“And now we have to think about what to do and how we react to it”, — he added.