Russia has taken formal steps to withdraw from a long-standing agreement with the United States aimed at reducing stockpiles of weapons-grade plutonium, which will eventually strain the relations between the two nuclear superpowers.
On October 8, the State Duma approved legislation to exit the Plutonium Management and Disposition Agreement (PMDA), signed in 2000 and implemented in 2011. The treaty committed both nations to dispose of 34 tonnes of weapons-grade plutonium each, enough for roughly 17,000 nuclear warheads, by converting it into mixed oxide (MOX) fuel or irradiating it in fast-neutron reactors, thereby preventing the material from being reused in weapons or falling into the wrong hands.
The PMDA was part of a suite of post–Cold War arms control agreements aimed at reducing nuclear risks and rebuilding strategic trust. However, Russian lawmakers now argue that the United States has taken “several new anti-Russian steps” which, they claim, have upset the strategic balance and undermined the basis for cooperation. A statement attached to the legislation warned these changes had created “additional threats to strategic stability.”
Moscow had already suspended parts of the agreement in 2016, citing U.S. sanctions, NATO’s expansion, and what it called deviations from the original disposal method. Russia objected in particular to Washington’s decision to dilute plutonium for disposal, an approach it insists was never agreed upon.
After dismantling thousands of nuclear warheads in the decades after the Cold War, both nations were left with vast and costly plutonium stockpiles that carried serious proliferation risks. Despite deep cuts to global arsenals, Russia and the United States still hold more than 90% of the world’s nuclear warheads, around 8,000 combined, according to the Federation of American Scientists.
Experts warn that the collapse of such agreements erodes critical safeguards and raises the risk of a renewed arms race. The U.S. has yet to issue an official response to Moscow’s decision.
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