1989

India and Pakistan begin creating real nuclear arsenals by stockpiling complete, ready-to-assemble weapons.

February 28
The Nevada-Semipalatinsk Movement to stop all nuclear testing is founded. Oleg Suleimenov , a popular Kazakh poet, is chosen to lead the organization.

April 7
The Soviet nuclear submarine Komsomolets sinks 300 miles off Norway, killing 42 crewmen.

September
At a meeting of his senior political aides and advisors, President F.W. de Klerk declares that in order to end South Africa's isolation from the international community, both the political system of apartheid and the nuclear weapons program must be dismantled.

September 22-24
The First World Congress of the International Association of Lawyers Against Nuclear Arms (IALANA) meets at The Hague. The Final Declaration affirms "that the use or threat of use of nuclear weapons is a war crime and a crime against humanity, as well as a gross violation of other norms of international customary and treaty law."

October 19
The final Soviet underground nuclear test occurs at the Semipalatinsk testing site in Kazakhstan.

November 9
The Berlin Wall falls, as East Germany opens its borders with West Germany.