AUSTRALIA may back away from its billion-dollar deal to sell uranium to Russia, with Prime Minister Kevin Rudd saying he feared relations between the former superpower and the West were "at a turning point".

Former prime minister John Howard and Russia's Vladimir Putin agreed to the deal, worth an estimated $1 billion, in Sydney last September.

Yesterday, Parliament's Labor-dominated treaties committee said the deal should not proceed until the Government was satisfied effective controls were in place to ensure the uranium could not be sold, lost or stolen by terrorists.

Asked if he would block the sale, Mr Rudd said he had not yet studied the full report but obviously the Russian situation was made complex by its invasion of Georgia.

"We will be working closely with international governments on the best response to the Russians," Mr Rudd said.

"If you look back over the last 20 years or so, what has happened in the last couple of months or so in relation to the West's engagement with the Russian Federation, I fear that we are at one of these turning points."

He said his Government was going to spend a lot of time working on questions about the West's long-term engagement with Russia.

Last month Russia warned that cancelling the deal could have serious economic consequences for Australia.

The Russian embassy's spokesman in Canberra said last night he had no comment to make other than to say the information was now being studied.

Coalition MPs on the committee disagreed strongly with the finding and said there were already compelling reasons for Russia to comply with its treaty obligations.

Liberal senator Michaelia Cash said the Russians faced a huge energy crisis.

"Why would they put the import of Australian uranium at risk by not complying with their obligations under this treaty?" she said.

Committee chairman Kelvin Thomson said the Liberals continued to support the sale because they were so hungry for the uranium export dollars that they want to believe nothing could go wrong.

Australian Greens senator Scott Ludlam said there was no guarantee Australian uranium would not be used to free up Russian uranium for its weapons program.

Australian Conservation Foundation nuclear campaigner David Noonan said the Government should recognise that Russia's recent threats to attack Poland with nuclear weapons, and its decision to attack Georgia, should disqualify Russia from purchasing Australian uranium.

Mr Noonan said Mr Rudd should ask his new Nuclear Disarmament Commission to examine the deal and put the sale on hold until he received its advice.

No decision should be made before the completion of the 2010 review of the Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty, Mr Noonan said.

The Medical Association for Prevention of War said the deal should be put on hold.

Association president Sue Wareham said the existing safeguards could not guarantee that Australian-produced uranium would not end up in Russian nuclear weapons.