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Russian Caught in Georgia with Enriched Uranium
A Russian attempting to sell enriched uranium was arrested in Tbilisi as a result of the joint action of Georgian enforcement bodies and the CIA. It was one of the biggest cases of nuclear material smuggling, AP reported.
It was Georgia’s Interior Minister Vano Merabishvili that shed light on the operation carried out far back in summer. According to the minister, an agent of Georgia got in touch with a smuggler from Russia’s North Ossetia, pretending he was a rich foreigner. Urged by the agent, the Russian delivered enriched uranium to Tbilisi. The smuggler carried uranium wrapped in the plastic sachet in the breast pocket of his jacket.
The smuggler was sentenced to ten years in prison, while his Georgian accomplices faced softer punishment. The criminals asserted they had access to large quantities of radioactive material, but refused to cooperate with investigators.
Merabishvili complained about the absence of help from Russian authorities, which took a sample of smuggled uranium but ignored all requests to cooperate. Exactly the annoyance with Russia’s failure to act made him disclose details of the case, the minister explained.
Georgia sought the U.S. assistance in the end and the tests conducted in the United States proved the sample was the enriched uranium indeed.
According to Merabishvili, the Russian was willing to sell roughly 100 grams of uranium enriched at over 90 percent. But the uranium enriched at 90 percent is a nuclear weapon already.
www.kommersant.com
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