PM warned: Russia may divert uranium to Iran
Tuesday, 4 September, 2007
by Marian Wilkinson and Craig Skehan
Sydney Morning Herald
The call, from Grigory Pasko, who spent four years in prison for reporting that the Russian military had dumped radioactive waste in the Sea of Japan, coincided with a warning from an expert on international law, Dr Don Rothwell, that Australian uranium sold to Russia could end up in nuclear reactors in Iran.
Mr Pasko is speaking in Sydney today at a forum highlighting human rights violations in Russia. He is hoping to draw attention to the uranium deal just before Mr Putin arrives for the APEC leaders meeting.
"Russia is telling us loud and clear that Australian uranium may easily find its way into Iran's hands", said Mr Pasko.
He questioned Australia's ability to verify that Russia had, as it promised, introduced a strict separation between its military and civilian nuclear programs.
Mr Pasko, an Amnesty International prisoner of conscience before he was freed in 2003, said: "Politicians and businessmen who want to have dealings with today's Russia need to always remember that they are working with a country in which human rights are being trampled on and the principles of democracy are being violated."
Dr Rothwell, from the Australian National University, warned yesterday that Russia had not ratified the key International Atomic Energy Agency "additional protocol" despite having signed it seven years ago.
This meant Russia was not bound by the protocol's requirements on the provision of information about handing of nuclear materials to the agency as well as greater access and rights for agency inspectors.
"Australian-sourced uranium could be funnelled from Russia to Iran if appropriate safeguards are not in place," Dr Rothwell told the Herald yesterday.
Last month the Foreign Affairs Minister, Alexander Downer, indicated that the Prime Minister, John Howard, would sign a new deal with Mr Putin during this week's summit.
He rejected criticism by the Greens senator Christine Milne that Australian uranium could end up in Iran saying, "it would be a breach of international law".
"I don't think Russia will want to become a rogue state," Mr Downer said.
Dismissing the Greens concerns as "a scare campaign", Mr Downer pointed out that Australia already exported uranium to Russia. These exports were on behalf of third-party countries who needed Russia to process the uranium for use in their civilian nuclear power stations.
Last year Mr Putin decided to massively expand Russia's civilian nuclear power program. Russia is due to run out of its own viable uranium reserves in the next decade and is looking to Australia for supply.
Senator Milne will join critics of Mr Putin at tomorrow's Summit of Russia. They will include the lawyer representing the Russian energy boss Mikhail Khodorkovsky, who is serving a 10-year sentence in a Siberian jail for fraud and the theft of state property.