Amb Matlock:

Here's the context: first of all,when President Herbert Walker Bush met with Gorbachev in Malta, in December 1989, they came to a very important agreement. One was that we're no longer enemies;the second was that the Soviet Union will not intervene in Eastern Europe if there's political change;and the third was the United States will not take advantage of changes there.

https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/document/27385-transcript-ambassador-jack-f-matlock-interview

https://www.history.com/.image/t_share/MTU3ODc3NjU5MTU3NDA3MDQ5/bush-and-gorbachev-declare-end-of-cold-war.jpg

We have been working with Russia to dispose of weapons grade plutonium for YEARS.

https://www.wired.com/2000/09/u-s-russia-sign-plutonium-pact/

On Friday, Vice President Al Gore signed the United States-Russian Federation Agreement on behalf of the United States. The agreement, announced in Moscow in June by U.S. President Bill Clinton and Russian President Vladimir Putin, aims to turn excess weapons-grade plutonium into forms that cannot be used for weapons.

>>17581317

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-37539616

Russia suspends weapons-grade plutonium deal with US

Published

3 October 2016

Russia has suspended an agreement with the US on the disposal of surplus weapons-grade plutonium, the latest sign of worsening bilateral relations.

In a decree, President Vladimir Putin accused the US of creating "a threat to strategic stability, as a result of unfriendly actions" towards Russia.

Moscow also set pre-conditions for the US for the deal to be resumed.

Under the 2000 deal, each side is supposed to get rid of 34 tonnes of plutonium by burning it in reactors.

It is part of cuts to nuclear forces.

The US state department said the combined 68 tonnes of plutonium was "enough material for approximately 17,000 nuclear weapons". Both sides had reconfirmed the deal in 2010.

In a separate development, the US said it was suspending talks with Russia over the Syrian crisis.

Washington said Moscow had not lived up to the terms of last month's ceasefire agreement, which has since collapsed.

Russia said it regretted the decision, accusing the US of trying to shift the blame on to Russia over the failed deal.

'We fulfilled our duties'In April, Mr Putin said the US was failing to fulfil its obligations to destroy plutonium. Instead, he argued, the US reprocessing method allowed plutonium to be extracted and used again in nuclear weapons.

Both sides had agreed to build special facilities for disposing of the surplus plutonium.

"We fulfilled our duties, we built that enterprise. But our American partners did not," Mr Putin said.

The US rejected that claim, insisting that its disposal method did not violate the agreement.

Also on Monday, President Putin submitted a bill (in Russian) to parliament setting a series of pre-conditions for the US for the agreement to be resumed, including: