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disposition of weapon-grade plutonium withdrawn from their respective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