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June 4, 2000

JOINT STATEMENT CONCERNING MANAGEMENT AND DISPOSITION OF WEAPON-GRADE PLUTONIUM DESIGNATED AS NO LONGER REQUIRED FOR DEFENSE PURPOSES AND RELATED COOPERATION

                              THE WHITE HOUSE



                       Office of the Press Secretary

                             (Moscow, Russia)

For Immediate Release                                        June 4, 2000





                        JOINT STATEMENT CONCERNING

   MANAGEMENT AND DISPOSITION OF WEAPON-GRADE PLUTONIUM DESIGNATED AS NO

                   LONGER REQUIRED FOR DEFENSE PURPOSES

                          AND RELATED COOPERATION



The Presidents of the United States and the Russian Federation announced

today completion of the bilateral Agreement for the management and

disposition of weapon-grade plutonium withdrawn from their respective

nuclear weapon programs and declared excess to defense purposes.  This

Agreement will ensure that this plutonium will be changed into forms

unusable for nuclear weapons by consumption as fuel in nuclear reactors or

by immobilization rendering it suitable for geologic disposal.



Based on the 1998 Summit Joint Statement of Principles for Management and

Disposition of Plutonium, this Agreement charts the course and sets the

conditions for such activities.  It reconfirms our determination to take

steps necessary to ensure that it is never again used for nuclear weapons

or any other military purpose and is managed and disposed in a way that is

safe, secure, ecologically sound, transparent and irreversible.  It

reaffirms our commitment to nuclear disarmament.



This Agreement will ensure that the management and disposition activities

are monitored and, thus, transparent for the international community.  It

provides for International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) verification once

appropriate agreements with the IAEA are concluded.



This Agreement builds on the approaches to such plutonium management and

disposition agreed at the 1996 G-8 Moscow Nuclear Safety and Security

Summit.  We reaffirm our intentions to continue to work closely with other

countries, in particular other G-8 leaders, who have provided strong

support over past years for initiation and implementation of these

programs.  In this regard, we hope that significant progress will be made

as well at the G-8 Summit this July in Okinawa.



This Agreement will enable new cooperation to go forward between the United

States and the Russian Federation.  We note that the United States Congress

has appropriated 200 million USD for this cooperation and the U.S.

Administration intends to seek additional appropriations.



This Agreement will soon be signed by Vice President Gore and Prime

Minister Kasyanov.





Moscow

June 4, 2000