Russia may sustain suspension of plutonium deal with U.S.: Russian minister

Russia may continue the suspension of an already halted deal with the United States on disposal of plutonium from decommissioned nuclear warheads amid escalating tensions between the two powers, a senior Russian diplomat said Monday.

Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the suspension of the deal earlier this month, citing the "threat to strategic stability posed by the hostile actions of the United States against Russia."

"It is obvious that the current U.S. administration will not agree to ... lift sanctions, nor to reduce the U.S. military presence in Europe," said Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov. "In this case, its suspension would have an indefinite nature."

The treaty, signed in 2000 and updated in 2010, required the two countries to dispose of 34 tons of weapons-grade plutonium from decommissioned nuclear warheads, which is enough to make approximately 17,000 nuclear weapons.

Russia has suspended a number of agreements with the United States in response to the increasingly tougher sanctions imposed by Washington for Moscow's role in the nearly three-year-long conflicts in eastern Ukraine and Crimea's incorporation into Russia.

Ryabkov said Russia has prepared both "symmetrical and asymmetrical" measures against possible renewed U.S. sanctions. Endi