On 3 July 1958, the US and British Governments sign an Agreement for Cooperation on the Uses of Atomic Energy for Mutual Defence Purposes. The agreement particularly focuses on the exchange of classified information concerning the use and production of nuclear weapons. It comes into force on 4 August 1958.

The Limited Test Ban Treaty, which was signed on 5 August 1963 in Moscow by the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and the United States and came into force on 10 October 1963, prevents the signatory states from carrying out nuclear explosions in the atmosphere, in outer space and under water. Underground explosions are not prohibited as long as they do not cause radioactive waste outside the territorial limits of the state responsible for the explosion.

The Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), which was signed on 1 July 1968 in London, Moscow and Washington and came into force on 5 March 1970, is based on three pillars: non-proliferation, disarmament and the peaceful use of nuclear energy. It prohibits the five nuclear-weapon states (NWS) — those who have exploded a nuclear device prior to 1 January 1967 (the United States, the USSR, the United Kingdom, China and France) — from delivering material or intelligence to non-nuclear weapon states (NNWS). The non-nuclear weapon states undertake not to manufacture or seek to acquire nuclear weapons. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is to verify that each state party to the treaty honours its commitments.

On 30 September 1971, in Washington, the United States and the Soviet Union sign an agreement in an effort to reduce the risk of outbreak of nuclear war.

On 18 June 1973, the US President, Richard Nixon (centre), welcomes Leonid Brezhnev (left), First Secretary of the Soviet Communist Party, to the White House.

On 19 June 1973, the US President, Richard Nixon (left), welcomes Leonid Brezhnev (right), First Secretary of the Soviet Communist Party, to Washington with a view to resolving the issue of nuclear weapons limitation.

On 22 June 1973, in Washington, US President Richard Nixon and his Soviet counterpart Leonid Brezhnev sign an agreement on the prevention of nuclear war.

On 22 June 1973, the US President, Richard Nixon (right), and the First Secretary of the Soviet Communist Party, Leonid Brezhnev (opposite at table), travel to California on board the ‘Spirit of 76’ Air Force One Presidential aircraft.

On 25 June 1973, at the end of the visit by the First Secretary of the Soviet Communist Party, Leonid Brezhnev, to the American President, Richard Nixon, the two Heads of State issue a Joint Communiqué which outlines the efforts made by the two countries to ease tensions between them.

In July 1973, the lead story in the Soviet satirical magazine Krokodil focuses on the efforts made by the United States and the Soviet Union on the issue of disarmament. On 22 June 1973 in Washington, these two countries signed an important agreement on the prevention of nuclear war, which symbolised the new climate of peaceful coexistence.

'And I'd planned to go and pick mushrooms!' The Moscow-based satirical magazine Krokodil is of the opinion that the signature of the Agreement on the Prevention of Nuclear War by the USA and the Soviet Union, on 21 June 1973 in Washington, dispels the spectre of nuclear war and death.