Overview
- President Vladimir Putin signed the denunciation law on Oct. 27 after both chambers of Russia’s parliament approved it, making the termination effective.
- The 2000 agreement, updated in 2010, obligated each country to convert 34 metric tonnes of surplus weapons‑grade plutonium for civilian use, a quantity U.S. officials estimated could fuel roughly 17,000 nuclear weapons.
- Russia suspended participation in 2016, citing U.S. “unfriendly actions” and objecting to Washington’s shift away from reactor‑fuel disposition; the new law also voids related protocols on financing, liability, and reactor irradiation.
- The step removes one of the remaining post‑Cold War nuclear security arrangements between Washington and Moscow as high‑level contacts cool and Russia touts a nuclear‑powered cruise‑missile test.
- Analysts note a 2016 decree appears to still prohibit using the designated plutonium for weapons unless that order is explicitly revoked.