US to help Georgia combat nuclear smuggling

WAR.WIRE

US to help Georgia combat nuclear smuggling
TBILISI, Feb 2 (AFP) Feb 02, 2007
The United States is to help Georgia combat smuggling of nuclear substances under an agreement signed Friday, Georgia's foreign ministry said.

The agreement comes days after Georgian authorities revealed details of a case in which a Russian national was arrested for attempting to sell weapons-grade uranium in the former Soviet republic.

Under the deal signed by Georgian Foreign Minister Gela Bezhuashvili and US ambassador to Tbilisi John Tefft, Georgia will set up a nuclear security agency and boost border controls with US help, a foreign ministry official said.

Oleg Khintsagov, a Russian national, was arrested in February last year in a joint operation by Georgian police and the United States' Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) for trying to sell 100 grams (3.5 ounces) of highly-enriched uranium.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the UN's nuclear watchdog, reacted with concern to the case, the latest of several smuggling incidents in the former Soviet Union.