Russia’s parliament officially suspended its agreement with the U.S. to dispose of weapons-grade plutonium in a nearly unanimous vote Tuesday.
The vote is the result of legislation introduced by Russian President Vladimir Putin for consideration by parliament Oct. 3. Four hundred and forty-five legislators supported the measure, with only one abstaining. Putin claimed that “unfriendly” behavior on the part of the U.S. was a major reason for ending the 2010 agreement.
Developed in 2000, the nuclear agreement did not come into effect until former secretary of state and current Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov signed it into force 10 years later. The framework laid out a plan for both countries to dispose of enough excess plutonium to create 17,000 nuclear warheads.
While the nuclear accord does not have significant practical effect on current Russian and U.S. nuclear stockpiles, its essentially unanimous suspension symbolizes the ongoing deterioration of relations between the two powers. Disagreements over Russia’s annexation of Crimea, ongoing cover involvement in Ukraine and intervention in Syria have led to increasingly aggressive and potential sanctions from the U.S. and NATO. RT, Russia’s state-funded English language news service, had its bank accounts in the United Kingdom cut-off just one day after reports of potential sanctions.
Clinton and her associates have been prime targets of hacks allegedly backed by Russia, despite her attempts at a Russian “reset” during her tenure as secretary of state. Several email dumps, particularly from the WikiLeaks organization, have promised to hamper her campaign for the presidency. The Office of the Director of National Intelligence released a joint statement with the Department of Homeland Security Oct. 7 acknowledging that both organizations were “confident” Russia was behind the hacks.
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