U.S. Praises Georgia for Interdicting Smuggled Nuke Materials

Concerned about the possibility of the former Soviet nuclear stockpile falling into the wrong hands, U.S. officials on Thursday praised the nation of Georgia for seizing highly enriched uranium that Georgian officials say was being smuggled through two of its breakaway provinces.

"It's instances like this that reinforce how important it is to put strict safeguards on the flow of nuclear material. No one can afford to have this stuff fall into the wrong hands for the wrong motives," one U.S. official said.

State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said Thursday the U.S. is "grateful" Georgia showed it is a responsible partner in trying to reduce the ability of nuclear materials from getting in the hands of terrorists or rogue states.

Georgia said Thursday it had taken custody last month of a small amount of the nuclear bomb-making material headed for the black market. Officials there blamed Russia's destabilizing the territories of Abkhazia and South Ossetia in 2008 for the security vacuum in the region.

"I can confirm that there were attempts to smuggle highly enriched uranium which is originated from Russian Federation territory, and there were attempts involving Russian Federation citizens, and also involving occupied territories," said Zaal Lomtadze, head of Georgia's Nuclear and Radiation Safety Service.

"The group of organized persons tried to smuggle the small amount of enriched uranium with the purpose to sell it to some would-be buyer, but Georgian authorities have seized this uranium. Now the accident is under investigation," Lomtadze said.

Last week, 47 nations convened in Washington to address efforts to secure loose nuclear material, and Ukraine, another former Soviet republic to hold stockpiles, announced it was going to hand over its highly enriched uranium to the United States.

"That's the reason that Georgia was invited to the recent nuclear security summit because (they) have demonstrated both a responsibility and obviously a capability of helping to interdict the flow of dangerous materials," Crowley said.

But while Georgia blames Russia for creating the instability that allows nuclear smugglers to operate in the region, officials in Russia, which was also represented at the security summit, responded by calling Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili a liar.

"(Saakashvili) must be fully honest in saying where and when it happened, instead of using it for political purposes and propaganda," Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Igor Lyakin-Frolov said. "This is not the first time that Saakashvili has been caught red-handed while making false statements. ... He shouldn't present a lie as the truth."