RUSSIA:A Russian nuclear smuggler has been arrested and jailed in a sting operation linked to the CIA and the FBI, which raises fears once again of the threat of a terrorist attack using radioactive materials.
The Georgian government has revealed that the black marketeer had turned up in the capital Tbilisi with the weapons-grade uranium wrapped in a plastic bag, stuffed in his jacket pocket and demanding $1 million (€773,000).
Although the quantity on him was small, about 100g (3½oz), Oleg Khintsagov claimed he could procure much more, 2.3kg (5lb), but was arrested before he got a chance to prove it.
The FBI has confirmed its role in the sting while the CIA is also believed to have assisted the Georgian secret services.
The smuggler is now in prison. Khintsagov was convicted by a closed court to an eight-year term after his detention nearly a year ago, which has only become public now. Three other co-conspirators have also been jailed on lesser offences.
Responding to the revelations, Russia confirmed that one of its citizens, a man who comes from North Ossetia, the breakaway region of Georgia that has close ties to Russia, had been arrested in Tbilisi for smuggling uranium.
Although it is not believed the man was linked to terrorist groups, it is also unclear where he sourced the uranium-235, which tests have confirmed was more than 90 per cent purity, sufficient to be used in a nuclear bomb.
Georgia's interior minister Vano Merabishvili yesterday complained that Russia had not co-operated fully in the investigation though this was roundly rejected by Russian officials.
They claimed that Russian officials had attended interviews with the man, although the Georgian minister said none had ever bothered to do so. Russian officials also insisted yesterday that while Georgia had provided a small sample of the impounded uranium, it was not enough to detect its country of origin.
At the moment, it is not known if it came from Russia or somewhere else, possibly another former Soviet republic.
Since all countries possessing uranium are obliged under the International Atomic Energy Agency to audit and safeguard all known stocks, its disappearance would be embarrassing for the country from which it was stolen.