June 1st 1990...
At a Washington D.C. superpowers summit meeting, United States President George H.W. Bush and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev signed a historic agreement to end production of chemical weapons and begin the destruction of both nations' large reserves of them.
The treaty would require on-site inspectors from both countries to observe the destruction process. It called for an 80% reduction of their chemical weapon arsenals, in an effort to create a climate of change that would discourage smaller nations from stockpiling and using the lethal weapons.
The U.S. and Russia began destroying their chemical weapons arsenals in the early 1990's. In 1993, 150 nations joined the United States and Russia in signing a comprehensive treaty banning chemical weapons. The United States Senate would ratify the treaty in 1997.
By - SC
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