Russian Man Sells Nuclear Weapons Materials across Borders

Georgian security services said on the 25th that they had captured a Russian man trying to sell weapons-grade uranium raw materials. The man put 100 grams of high-purity uranium in a plastic bag and sold it in his pocket. The quantity and grade of nuclear material involved in this case are rare in recent years.

Rudian Interior Minister Merabishvili announced the ins and outs of this case to the outside world on the 25th. He said Georgian investigators contacted a seller in the Russian republic of North Ossetia, which borders Georgia, who claimed to have a shipment of weapons-grade uranium for sale.

Georgian investigators suggested that they hope to trade in Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia. Last summer, the Russian man named Zinsagov came to Tbilisi. After arriving at the designated trading place, he took out a plastic bag from his coat pocket, which contained 100 grams of weapons-grade uranium-235. Official Utiashvili said: "He wanted to sell 100 grams of weapons-grade uranium for $1 million."

After Sinsagov was arrested, the Georgian side sent the uranium samples seized to the United States and Russia for testing. The results confirmed that Sinsagov's words were true. The purity of these uranium-235 was as high as 90% and could be used to make atomic bombs.

Merabishvili said that before the case was solved, Georgia discovered a huge smuggling network while investigating organized crime in the Abkhazia and South Ossetia regions. Georgian officials said that before his arrest, Sinsagov said that he still had some weapons-grade uranium, but after his arrest, he refused to cooperate with the authorities and failed to explain the source of the uranium and other clues, and the investigation stalled.

Bunn, an expert at Harvard University, said that making an atomic bomb like the one detonated in Hiroshima requires about 50 kilograms of uranium with a purity of more than 90%, and a complex and advanced implosion-type atomic bomb also requires at least 15 to 18 kilograms.

Data provided by the International Atomic Energy Agency show that from 1993 to 2005, countries around the world reported 16 cases of theft or smuggling of high-purity uranium and plutonium to the agency. U.S. officials said they did not believe the Georgia case was related to terrorism.