Georgia accuses Russia as uranium smuggling plot foiled

Georgia's president has confirmed his country seized a shipment of highly enriched uranium and blamed Russia for creating the instability that allows nuclear smugglers to operate in the region.

President Mikhail Saakashvili declined to divulge details of the seizure but confirmed the uranium was intercepted last month coming into his country in the Caucasus region of southeast Europe.

The Georgian interior ministry said authorities detained a group of foreign nationals and seized a small amount of uranium and informed the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

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Mr Saakashvili's government no longer controls two breakaway sections of Georgia, Abkhazia and South Ossetia, which declared independence after the 2008 Russia-Georgia war, and the president said the smuggling is evidence of a security black hole in the area.

Such seizures have come "mostly from the direction of Russia", Mr Saakashvili said.

During the brief August 2008 war, Russia destroyed much of Georgia's military infrastructure and occupied the two territories. Georgia protested fiercely, claiming Russia was trying to annexe the regions.

Only Venezuela, Nicaragua and the South Pacific island nation of Nauru followed Russia's example and recognised both regions as independent states

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The rest of the world considers them part of Georgia, but Russia has established long-term military bases and is building up its artillery there, posing a menacing threat to Georgia.

Mr Saakashvili appealed for more western support, saying western involvement was his country's best defence.

"We are not asking for an American troop presence," he said. "We are asking for an American political, economic and security presence."

South Ossetia's border is a mere 30 miles from Georgia's capital,

Tbilisi.

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News of the uranium seizure first emerged during last week's nuclear security summit in Washington, which was hosted by President Barack Obama and that Mr Saakashvili attended.

Mr Obama pointed to Russian cooperation as essential to his goal of securing all of the world's nuclear materials within four years. At the summit, Russia and the US signed a deal to dispose of tons of weapons-grade plutonium.

But Mr Saakashvili said that under Russian control, Georgia's two breakaway regions became havens for nuclear smugglers.

He pointed to a 2006 sting in South Ossetia as evidence. In that instance, Georgian authorities arrested four people trying to sell highly enriched uranium.

The International Atomic Energy Agency, has documented 18 cases of weapons-grade nuclear material going missing.

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