Putin suspends nuclear deal with the US.

(Baonghean.vn) - On October 3, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree suspending an agreement signed in 2000 and amended in 2010 with the United States on limiting the stockpile of plutonium used to manufacture nuclear weapons.

President Putin has signed a decree suspending the nuclear agreement with the United States. Photo: AFP

The preamble to the decree states that the suspension of the agreement is due to “a threat to strategic stability arising from hostile actions by certain parts of the United States toward the Russian Federation.”

Reportedly, the agreement to limit the stockpile of plutonium used to manufacture nuclear weapons was signed in 2010 by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

According to the agreement, each country had to eliminate 34 tons of plutonium in its reserves for use in nuclear reactors. At the time, Hillary Clinton argued that the amount of material available was enough to equip 17,000 nuclear weapons.

Following the agreement, both Russia and the United States considered it an improvement in bilateral cooperation between the two Cold War rivals aimed at combating the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.

Putin's signing of the aforementioned decree once again demonstrates the continuing deterioration of relations between Moscow and Washington since the annexation of Crimea by Russia in 2014.

Chu Thanh

(According to Le Figaro)