Russian President Vladimir Putin signed this Monday, October 27, a law that breaks the agreement with the USA on the reprocessing of plutonium, intended to limit the production of new nuclear weapons and considered obsolete for several years.
The Plutonium Management and Processing Agreement, signed in 2000 and revised in 2010, committed Moscow and Washington to transform 34 tons of plutonium from the Cold War into fuel for nuclear power plants.enough to eliminate material capable of producing around 17 thousand warheads.
The Kremlin had already unilaterally suspended the application of the treaty in 2016, during the presidency of Democrat Barack Obama, in a period of growing tension between the two countries.
The new law, approved this month by the Russian Parliament and promulgated today, formalizes the definitive denunciation of the agreement.
US authorities considered the pact one of the pillars of nuclear cooperation between Moscow and Washington after the end of the Cold War.
Its end is seen as yet another sign of the collapse of arms control structures between the two powers.
Since the start of the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Western leaders have accused Moscow of using nuclear rhetoric as a form of intimidation.
A few days after the start of the offensive, Putin put Russian nuclear forces on high alert, and in 2024 he lowered the threshold for the use of these weapons.
On Sunday, the Russian President announced the success of the final test of the long-range Burevestnik nuclear cruise missile, fueling fears of a new arms race.
Meanwhile, peace talks between Moscow and Kiev remain blocked, despite mediation attempts by US President Donald Trump, who had promised to quickly end the conflict.
Last Tuesday, Trump indefinitely postponed his planned meeting with Putin in Budapest, saying he did not want “inconsequential negotiations”.