US to help Georgia combat nuclear smuggling

TBILISI, Feb 2 (Reuters) The United States will provide equipment and training to Georgia under an accord today to combat trafficking of radioactive material via the Caucasus state which said last week it jailed a Russian uranium smuggler.

Georgia's border patrols and the country's nuclear regulatory agency will be boosted by US specialist technology and training under the agreement signed by Georgia's foreign minister and the U.S. ambassador.

''We invite everybody and first of all our neighbours to cooperate in this sphere,'' Georgia's Gela Bezhuashvili told journalists after the signing, adding that Tbilisi was ready to reach the same agreement with Russia.

Georgia said it had arrested and jailed a Russian citizen in 2006 for entering the country and trying to sell highly enriched uranium to agents posing as Islamist militants.

Russia called the announcement a provocative act but later said it was considering an inquiry into possible theft of the substance from its nuclear sites.

Bezhuashvili told the Russian ambassador on Wednesday the smuggling incident ''goes beyond the framework of bilateral relations and is a question of international security''.

The US ambassador said similar agreements had been signed with Ukraine and Kazakhstan.

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