By IANS/RIA Novosti,
Moscow : Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has approved amendments to an agreement with the US to dispose of excess weapons-grade plutonium, the Rossiiskaya Gazeta government daily said Tuesday.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton signed in April 2010 a protocol to amend the US-Russian 2000 agreement on eliminating excess weapons-grade plutonium from defence programmes.
Under the agreement, Russia and the US will each dispose of 34 tonnes of excess plutonium, which is enough to create several thousand nuclear weapons. The programme is to be launched before 2018.
Russia intends to spend up to $3.5 billion on its programme and the US some $400 million.
The agreement is a continuation of Medvedev and US President Barack Obama’s nuclear disarmament efforts launched in April 2010, when they signed the New START treaty replacing the expired START 1 agreement.
The document slashes the Russian and US nuclear arsenals to a maximum of 1,550 nuclear warheads, down from the current ceiling of 2,200.