http://www.kuwaittimes.net/international.asp?dismode=article&artid=255383983
Uranium smuggling case throws Russia on defensive MOSCOW: Russia was thrown on the defensive after Georgia revealed a foiled plot to sell weapons-grade uranium involving a Russian citizen, and cast a spotlight on the security of Russian nuclear facilities and non-proliferation efforts. The origin of the 100 grams of highly enriched uranium seized early last year in the ex-Soviet republic remains unclear and some experts accused US-allied Georgia of staging a media exercise to embarrass Russia at a time of strained ties between Moscow and Washington. The Russian government said nothing about the investigation Thursday, except for an unidentified official at Russia's nuclear agency Rosatom, quoted by the Interfax news agency, who denied Georgian accusations that Russia was not cooperating with an investigation of the case. US and Georgian officials told The Associated Press that Georgian authorities, aided by the CIA, set up a sting operation that led to the arrest last year of the Russian citizen, who tried to sell a small amount of uranium enriched by more than 90 percent. Georgian officials said attempts to trace the source of the nuclear material and investigate the man's claim that he had access to larger quantities have failed because Russia has not given assistance. The Rosatom official said the opposite was true. The official was quoted as saying that Georgian authorities had given Russia too small a sample to determine its origin and had refused to provide other information. Georgian Interior Ministry official Shota Utiashvili identified the detained man as Oleg Khinsagov, resident of Vladikavkaz in North Ossetia, a Russian region that borders Georgia. He said Georgian authorities had thwarted an earlier smuggling attempt also involving a small amount of highly enriched uranium in 2003, but gave no further details. Rosatom declined to comment, and the Federal Security Service and the Interior Ministry did not respond to requests for comment. Officials from Rosatom and the Federal Security Service attended an early questioning of the suspect, and Russian authorities were given a small sample of the nuclear material, but Georgia offered no further cooperation, the Rosatom official was quoted as saying by Interfax. The account appeared to be aimed at deflecting accusations that the uranium came from Russia as well as claims that Moscow was not cooperating on ensuring the security of nuclear materials and helping non-proliferation efforts. These are two areas in which Russia says it is working actively with other nations, including the United States. Alexander Pikayev, a Moscow-based defense analyst who is co-chairman of the Committee of Scientists for Global Security, said there have been thefts of nuclear material from Russian facilities in the past. "If this uranium did come from Russia, the Russian authorities need to take this problem very seriously," he said. "There is work going on in this direction but this incident shows that all is not well." Russia retains a sprawling nuclear weapons production complex and large stocks of weapons-grade fissile material left over from Soviet-era programs. According to the Nuclear Threat Initiative, a Washington-based non-governmental organization devoted to nonproliferation issues, Russia has between 735 and 1,365 metric tons of weapons grade-equivalent highly enriched uranium and between 106 and 156 tons of military-use plutonium. A U.S. government-financed program has helped increase security at many Russian weapons facilities with the installation of closed-circuit cameras and other safeguards. However, the program has seen regular disputes between the two countries, independent military expert Pavel Felgenhauer said. Russia allowed the US access to nuclear research facilities, but kept some weapons manufacturing sites off-limits, he said. In Washington, Georgian Interior Minister Vano Merabishvili said he was revealing the story out of frustration with Russia's response and to illustrate the dangers of a breakdown in security cooperation in the region. Russian ties with Georgia have soured badly. Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili has sought to decrease Russian influence and move closer to the West, as Tbilisi regularly protests Russian support for the separatist Georgian regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. According to Merabishvili's account, during an investigation in South Ossetia, a Georgian undercover agent made contact with the Russian seller in North Ossetia. After the Russian offered to sell the sample, the agent rebuffed requests that the sale take place in North Ossetia, insisting he come to Tbilisi, Georgia's capital. At a meeting there, the man pulled a plastic bag containing the material from his pocket. The man was arrested and sentenced to eight to 10 years in prison on smuggling charges. Three Georgians tried as accomplices were sentenced on lesser charges. Uranium is more or less harmless to carry around because, like plutonium and polonium, it is an alpha-emitting radioactive material that does not penetrate the skin. Those materials are dangerous only if ingested. The radioactive emissions of highly enriched uranium are so low that detectors often fail to pick them up if they are contained in a simple lead container. While it is not normally handled casually, research laboratories do not use the same precautions in handling highly enriched uranium that they use with other radioactive materials. Anton Khlopkov, deputy director of Moscow's PIR Centre, which specialises in non-proliferation issues, noted that the quantity seized was reported to be small- a fraction of what was needed to make a nuclear weapon. He also said it was not certain if it came from Russia, as small amounts of nuclear materials had remained in Georgia after the collapse of the Soviet Union. In 1993, 2 kilograms of highly enriched uranium disappeared from a nuclear research facility in Abkhazia. "Why was this information released now? It looks like an attempt, by Georgia or the United States, to build up an image of Russia as a nuclear market," Khlopkov said. "Georgia wants to get political capital out of this." _ AP +++ -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? 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