Pakistan, Oct. 27 -- Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a law formally ending the plutonium disposal agreement with the United States on Monday. The deal, signed in 2000 and updated in 2010, aimed to reduce Cold War-era plutonium stockpiles. Each country agreed to dispose of 34 metric tonnes and use it for nuclear power instead.

Russia had suspended the agreement in 2016 after tensions rose with the Obama administration. US officials estimated that the pact would have destroyed material enough for 17,000 nuclear weapons. The new law officially "denounces" the agreement, and lawmakers had approved it earlier this month.

The move comes as ties between Putin and US President Donald Trump continue to cool. Trump recently canceled a pla...