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Lawmaker says Russia will resume plutonium deal if US lifts sanctions against Moscow

A Russian lawmaker says Moscow will resume the agreement on disposal of plutonium if the United States starts implementing it conscientiously

© Donat Sorokin/TASS

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Russia’s State Duma suspends plutonium agreement with US

BERN, October 20. /TASS/. Russia will resume the agreement on disposal of plutonium if the United States starts implementing it conscientiously and lifts sanctions against Moscow, Federation Council Speaker Valentina Matviyenko said at the opening of the Russian Economic and Financial Forum in Switzerland.

Moscow was forced to put forward the initiative on suspending the deal as the US partners "did not implement and do not implement this agreement while Russia meets its commitments responsibly and point by point." "In this situation we cannot place ourselves in unequal conditions," Matviyenko said on Thursday.

"We said that the resumption of the agreement would be possible only on condition that the US starts conscientiously implementing this agreement like we do. No doubt, this will be after the cancellation of sanctions and other restrictions against Russia," she stressed.

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This is how "a sovereign state should act if external players try to undermine its economy and the economy of its partners."

Russia’s State Duma, the lower house of parliament, passed a law on Wednesday on suspending the Russian-US deal on the disposal of plutonium and the respected protocols. The measure was approved almost unanimously: a total of 445 MPs voted in favor of suspending the agreement, and one abstained.

Russian President Vladimir Putin submitted the draft law on suspending the agreement between Russia and the United States on plutonium disposal to the State Duma on October 3 after signing the relevant decree.

Apart from the direct provisions on suspending the plutonium deal, the draft law lists the conditions for the possible resumption of the accords. Among them is Washington’s cancellation of the Magnitsky Act, all anti-Russian sanctions, compensating for the damage sustained by Moscow and reducing US military infrastructure in NATO countries.

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