Oleg Khinsagov

Oleg Khinsagov

Oleg Khinsagov (Russian: Олег Хинсагов) is a Russian citizen from Vladikavkaz, North Ossetia-Alania.^[1] On January 25, 2007 he was sentenced by a Georgian court for 8.5 years for smuggling 100 grams of highly enriched uranium.^[2]

According to the Georgian authorities, in January 2006, Khinsagov together with a few Georgian citizens from the separatist region of South Ossetia was trying to sell 100 grams of highly-enriched uranium. He claimed that the material is only a sample and he has more than 3 kilograms of the substance in his Vladikavkaz garage. Georgian police arranged meeting of Khinsagov with their Turkish-speaking agent introduced as a representative of a rich Muslim organization willing to buy the sample for $1 million US. At the meeting held on February 1, 2006 Khinsagov was arrested with 100 grams of s substance in two plastic pouches.^[1] The chemical analysis performed by an American Department of Energy Lab confirmed the substance been a U-235 purity of 89.451 percent enriched Uranium that makes it a Weapons-grade material.^[1]

The Georgian side accused Russian investigators in the lack of cooperation with the investigation.^[1] According to Shota Utiashvili, the head of the Georgian Interior Ministry's analytical department: "We received the test results from Russian specialists. They confirmed that the substance was high-enriched uranium, but did not say anything about its origin.".^[3] According to Rosatom the Georgian side did not provided enough material to pinpoint its origin,^[4] still the FSB report provided for the Georgian investigators confirmed the substance been the highly enriched uranium and indicated it was processed more than ten years ago.^[1]

References

1. ^ ^{a b c d e} Smuggler’s Plot Highlights Fear Over Uranium by L.S. Sheets and W.J. Broad The New York Times January 25, 2007
2. ^ Georgia says it foiled sale of bomb-grade uranium Reuters 25 January 2007
3. ^ Russian gets eight years in Georgian prison for uranium sale RIA Novosti
4. ^ Nuclear Ossetia Gazeta.ru (Russian)

Sources

• A Smuggler’s Story by Lawrence Scott Sheets: Atlantic Monthly, April 2008.

Persondata
Name	Khinsagov, Oleg
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth
Place of birth
Date of death
Place of death