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Ros-Lehtinen Calls for Withdrawal of US-Russia Nuclear Cooperation Agreement Pending Further Investigation of Litvineko Murder

(WASHINGTON) – U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), Ranking Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, today called on the U.S.-Russia nuclear cooperation agreement to be withdrawn as new reports have surfaced allegedly linking Rosatom, Russia’s civilian nuclear agency, to the 2006 radioactive poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko, a former intelligence agent turned outspoken critic of the Kremlin. Statement by Ros-Lehtinen:

“New reports that the extremely rare radioactive material used in the murder of Alexander Litvinenko may have been of Russian origin raise further questions about the Russian government’s possible role in the murder. The reported link between the murder and Russia’s nuclear agency has serious implications for U.S. nuclear cooperation with Russia that we dare not ignore.

“I strongly urge President Obama to withdraw the U.S. – Russia nuclear cooperation agreement and block any purchase of U.S. nuclear resources by Russia’s Rosatom or its subsidiaries until these new allegations about possible involvement by Russia’s civilian nuclear agency in the radioactive poisoning of Litvinenko have been thoroughly investigated.

“If these allegations are proven true, the U.S. must immediately reconsider its ‘reset’ approach to Russia.”

BACKGROUND: According to reports, Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) received radioactive Polonium from a Russian nuclear plant under the control of the Rosatom civilian nuclear agency shortly before the same substance was used to murder Litvinenko in London.

NOTE: In June, Ros-Lehtinen introduced a resolution to block approval of the proposed U.S.-Russia nuclear cooperation agreement. In October, Ros-Lehtinen sent a letter, along with three other Members of Congress, to U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Timothy Geithner, raising concerns about the pending sale of a U.S. uranium processing facility to ARMZ Uranium Holding Co., the mining arm of Rosatom, and expressing opposition to the U.S.-Russia nuclear cooperation agreement until the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) and Congress have fully reviewed and evaluated its implications for national security. Earlier, in April 2008, the House passed a measure, introduced by Ros-Lehtinen, expressing the sense of Congress that the fatal radiation poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko raises significant concerns about the potential involvement of the Russian authorities in Mr. Litvinenko’s death and about the security and proliferation of radioactive materials. 97% percent of the world's legal production of polonium-210 occurs in Russia.

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