United States and Soviet Union Sign Chemical Weapons Pact
On June 1, 1990, the United States and the Soviet Union signed a significant agreement aimed at curtailing chemical weapons development and promoting disarmament. Titled the "Agreement on Destruction and Non-Production of Chemical Weapons," this pact was a crucial step in the post-Cold War era, wherein both superpowers committed to destroying approximately 80 percent of their chemical arsenals. The backdrop of this agreement rests on a history of chemical warfare that dates back to World War I, with both nations having developed extensive stockpiles during the Cold War arms race.
The pact included provisions for mutual inspections to ensure compliance and established a framework for regulating the remaining stockpiles deemed necessary for national defense. Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, Russia inherited the obligations of this agreement. Additionally, the United States and Russia engaged in a broader global treaty aimed at banning and destroying chemical weapons, although implementation has faced challenges. This agreement reflects a pivotal moment in international efforts to address the dangers posed by chemical weapons and highlights ongoing concerns regarding their potential use in conflicts and by non-state actors.
United States and Soviet Union Sign Chemical Weapons Pact
United States and Soviet Union Sign Chemical Weapons Pact
On June 1, 1990, President George H. W. Bush of the United States and Mikhail Gorbachev, the leader of the Soviet Union, executed a pact formally titled “Agreement on Destruction and Non-Production of Chemical Weapons and on Measures to Facilitate the Multilateral Convention on Banning Chemical Weapons.” Signed in Washington, D.C., during a summit meeting between the two superpowers and former Cold War adversaries, this agreement bound both nations to destroy approximately 80 percent of their chemical weapons.
Chemical weapons such as mustard gas were first used in World War I. By World War II virtually all of the major combatants had developed, though had rarely used, more sophisticated chemical agents, including nerve gas, which causes death by working on the body's nervous system. During the arms race in the subsequent Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union, both sides continued to develop ever more powerful chemical weapons, and both accumulated massive stockpiles of these toxins. By the late 1980s, however, the Cold War had ended, and both nations were interested in eliminating the excess of chemical weaponry which had built up over the decades. Not only were the stockpiles expensive to maintain, but there was the risk of accidental leakage, theft, or use by terrorists. In a process to be supervised by inspectors from both sides, the two nations committed themselves to reducing their chemical arsenals to a level which they had mutually agreed was necessary for defense just in case some conflict (not necessarily with each other) broke out in the future. After the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, Russia inherited most of its chemical weapons stockpiles and assumed the obligations of the June 1, 1990, agreement. The United States and Russia have also entered into a global treaty agreement calling for the worldwide destruction and ban of chemical weapons, but so far to little effect.