Russia’s lower house of parliament on Wednesday approved a move to withdraw from a landmark agreement with the United States aimed at reducing vast stockpiles of weapons-grade plutonium left over from thousands of Cold War nuclear warheads.

The Plutonium Management and Disposition Agreement (PMDA), signed in 2000, committed both the United States and Russia to dispose of at least 34 tonnes of weapons-grade plutonium each. U.S. officials said this much plutonium would have been enough for as many as 17,000 nuclear warheads. The agreement came into force in 2011.

Anti-Russian Steps

“The United States has taken a number of new anti-Russian steps that fundamentally change the strategic balance that prevailed at the time of the Agreement and create additional threats to strategic stabili

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