The Russian State Duma has passed a law denouncing the agreement between the United States and Russia on the disposal of weapons-grade plutonium.
The treaty required both parties to eliminate 34 tons of nuclear warhead material each, which at the time was considered surplus to military needs. Several protocols attached to the agreement are also being annulled, reports The Moscow Times.
“Maintaining Russia’s obligations under the plutonium agreement with the United States is unacceptable,” said Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov, commenting on the Duma vote.
According to the explanatory note, the reason for denouncing the agreement is “the actions of the United States,” and “continuing any further obligations regarding the plutonium covered by the Agreement appears impractical.” The purpose of the law is to prevent threats to Russia’s national security, the Duma’s International Affairs Committee stated.
The Russia–US agreement was signed in August 2000 and was one of the first international treaties adopted after Vladimir Putin’s inauguration as president. It was ratified in 2011. The initial plan called for processing the plutonium specified in the treaty for use as fuel in nuclear power plants starting in 2018. However, Russia suspended the treaty in 2016, accusing the United States of violating its commitments. Putin’s decree stated that the decision was prompted by “a threat to strategic stability due to hostile US actions toward Russia.”
At that time, the Kremlin also made several demands unrelated to plutonium disposal. These included reducing US military infrastructure and forces in countries that joined NATO after September 1, 2000, lifting sanctions imposed by the US following Russia’s occupation of Crimea and the start of the war in Donbas in 2014, compensating for damages caused by sanctions and Russian counter-sanctions, and repealing the Magnitsky Act along with financial and visa restrictions on Russians involved in human rights violations.
In February 2023, Putin unilaterally suspended Russia’s participation in the Treaty on the Reduction of Strategic Offensive Arms (START), citing US violations of the agreement as well as changed circumstances under which it had been concluded.
