Amidst rising tensions between Moscow and Washington DC over the Ukraine ceasefire, President Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin has withdrawn Russia from the Plutonium Management and Disposition Agreement (PMDA) with the US. It may be noted that the landmark accord was aimed at limiting weapons-grade plutonium.

The Russian strongman made the move soon after US President Donald John Trump reminded the Kremlin of deploying nuclear-capable submarines off the Russian coast in the fourth week of October 2025, stressing: “We have a nuclear submarine, the greatest in the world, right off their shores.”

Russia and the US had signed the PMDA way back in 2000, as both nations agreed to dispose of significant fractions of their “excess” (beyond what they need for their nuclear weapons) weapons-grade plutonium. Moscow and Washington DC amended the accord in April 2010 (during the Presidency of Barack Hussein Obama) and the amended version went into effect in July 2011. The Moscow Times reported that President Putin signed a decree on October 27, 2025 to formally terminate the agreement with the US on plutonium extraction and storage. While the US has approximately 90 tonnes of weapons-grade plutonium, Russia has roughly 128 tonnes.

In 2000, the US declared 60 metric tonnes of plutonium as excess, while Russia declared 50 metric tonnes. The amount is believed to have increased further in the last 25 years. Both sides had also agreed to dispose of at least 34 metric tonnes of weapons-grade plutonium each under the PMDA that called for the two countries to complete this in parallel stages. However, Russia suspended its obligations under the treaty in 2016, followed by the US suspending its own obligations in 2019. Now, President Putin has made it clear that Moscow wants to accelerate nuclear weapons development. In fact, the updated 2024 Nuclear Doctrine of Russia reflects this priority.

President Putin announced on October 26, 2025 that Moscow successfully test-fired the nuclear-capable Burevestnik cruise missile, code-named Skyfall by NATO, on October 21. General Valery Gerasimov, the Chief Military Officer of Russia, also confirmed the news, stressing that the missile covered 14,000km (8,680 miles) during a 15-hour flight using nuclear fuel. According to the military officer, the conducted manoeuvres demonstrated “its high capabilities in evading missile and air defence systems”. General Gerasimov further said: “The technical characteristics of the Burevestnik missile effectively allow it to be used with guaranteed accuracy against highly protected targets at any distance.”

Meanwhile, President Trump has claimed that the US does not need to fly so far as it has a nuclear submarine off the coast of Russia. “They know we have a nuclear submarine, the greatest in the world, right off their shores, so I mean, it doesn’t have to go 8,000 miles,” he told the press.

Meanwhile,

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Published by Koushik Das

Koushik Das (born on May 16, 1976 in Kolkata) is a career journalist. Based in the Indian capital of New Delhi, Koushik writes mainly about foreign policies and current geopolitical issues, and rarely about other topics. His own political ideas are highly influenced by Antonio Gramsci, Louis Althusser, Michel Foucault, Michael Oakeshott and others. English philosopher and political theorist Oakeshott (Dec 11, 1901-Dec 19, 1990) says that “in political activity, men sail a boundless and bottomless sea. There is neither harbour for shelter nor floor for anchorage, neither starting-place, nor appointed destination. But we have to keep afloat”. (Rationalism in Politics, 1962) As a student of Political Science, Koushik loves to share his views on issues, which have great impacts on his thought process (and also on India, South Asia and of course on the global community), with his readers through his website – Boundless Ocean of Politics. By doing so, he tries to keep himself afloat. You will find some of his articles in https://inserbia.info/today/ (https://inserbia.info/today/author/kou_das13_i/), as he has been trying to assess the global geopolitics since 2003. You can also mail him at kousdas@gmail.com View all posts by Koushik Das