Russian President Dimitry Medvedev announced on Tuesday at the nuclear security summit in Washington that Russia plans to close its last weapons-grade plutonium manufacturing facility, a Kremlin press secretary said on Tuesday.

Manufacturing ended at the facility, located in the town of Zheleznogorsk in the Krasnoyarsk region, Siberia, in June 2009. It will be shut down in April.

U.S. President Barack Obama welcomed Medvedev's decision, calling it an important step forward which demonstrates "Russia's leadership on nuclear security issues."