Former Russian official guilty of stealing nuclear safety funds

A former Russian energy minister accused by federal prosecutors in Pittsburgh of stealing millions in U.S. funds was found guilty Tuesday in a Moscow court of fraud and abuse of office.

Yevgeny Adamov, who served as nuclear power minister from 1998 to 2001, could be sentenced today, according to The Associated Press. Prosecutors have asked for a nine-year sentence.

U.S. Attorney Mary Beth Buchanan's office will monitor the outcome of the Russian case before deciding how to pursue Adamov's pending charges here, according to a statement released by the U.S. Department of Justice.

Prosecutors have stated previously that they doubt Adamov will ever face trial here.

Adamov's US attorney, who fought his extradition to the United States to face the charges in a Federal Court in Pittsburgh, is none other than Lanny A. Breuer, the attorney who represented Bill Clinton in the impeachment hearings. The program from which Adamov embezzled US funds was "Megatons to Megawatts," in which Russia sold the United States low-grade uranium fuel obtained from enriched weapons-grade uranium recovered from nuclear warheads. The American agent in these deals was US Enrichment Corporation which was privatized in 1998, a deal that yielded $1.9 billion. One of the most prominent lobbyists pressing the U.S. Treasury for this deal was Susan Thomases, close friend, private lawyer, and one-time chief scheduler to Hillary Clinton. For more details, see Getting rich on enriched uranium.

When did we find out about that? During the Clinton administration? And the money kept on flowing?

According to "Adamov's Persia File," an article in Moskovskii Komsomelets (October 12, 2005), by Nadezhda Popova, translated in Russia's Defense and Security, October 14, 2005, the FBI knew of Adamov's dealings with Iran before he was fired by Putin in November 2001.

"In order to understand the ties between Russia and Iran, past and present, let's consider the notorious Chernomyrdin-Gore agreement of 1995," says Dr. Ivan Nikitchuk, a prominent nuclear physicist from the Russian Federal Nuclear Center (Arzamas-16-Sarov). "At the request of then-Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin, then-Vice President Al Gore agreed to refrain from informing Congress about the details of Russia's nuclear cooperation with Iran."
Soon afterwards, US State Department official James Rubin stated that two Russian nuclear enterprises were holding talks with Iran about cooperation in building a heavy-water reactor with a capacity of 40 megawatts. One of those enterprises - NIKIET - was headed by Adamov. On January 8, 1999, the United States imposed unilateral sanctions against the institute headed by Adamov.
"What's really interesting," says Ivan Nikitchuk, "is that the Prosecutor General's Office and the Nuclear Energy Ministry spent two years on a thorough investigation into export controls. During that time, Adamov moved from being NIKIET director to nuclear energy minister. So it's not surpising that the Prosecutor General's Office, just like the Nuclear Energy Ministry - headed by Adamov at the time - failed to uncover any 'significant' violations in Russian-Iranian nuclear cooperation. Yet as far back ast 1996, NIKIET personnel had analyzed an Iranian conceptual plan for producing heavy water. And in 1999, with the prosecutors already investigating, Adamov and his colleagues attempted to establish contacts with Iranian specialists outside their normal job duties. Then the Federal Security Service (FSB) got involved."
But it seems the FSB was a bit too late. "Dr. Adamov" had already sent off the blueprints for a heavy water reactor and received a fairly generous payment from Iran. One of his former deputies, who asked to remain anonymous, confirmed this in an interview with us.
"At first, Adamov wanted a barter deal," says the source. "In exchange for the heavy-water reactor blueprints, he asked the Iranians for marble. A lot of marble - since marble is fairly cheap over there. But Iran always pays cash, and Adamov allowed himself to be 'persuaded.'"
...Most people involved state, that it was Yuri Shekochikhin, a journalist, that contrived to hand in all the discreditable documents to the United States. An American journalist sent Shekochikhin's message to the FBI. President Putin was no doubt informed of the FBI's interest in the Adamov affair. Putin signed the documents on dismissal of Adamov in November 2001, and not by mere chance.

A blast from the past:

NO ONE DOUBTS HER STATUS AS A VERY special friend of Bill and Hillary -- or that Susan Thomases, a brash New York securities lawyer who has known both Clintons since the 1970s, played an important unofficial role in the confusion after Vince Foster's suicide. Thomases, who served the Clinton presidential campaign as chief scheduler and who is still Hillary Clinton's private lawyer, will be questioned at the Senate Whitewater hearings this week. That should raise her profile as an influential member of the Clinton entourage. But what few outside the Beltway know is that Thomases has turned her friendship into a career as a Washington influence peddler-and she isn't subtle about it.
...She is now using her clout to help J.P. Morgan and Co. on an issue of far greater significance than tollbooths. The company hopes to finance the privatization of the U.S. Enrichment Corporation, a federally backed agency that buys de-enriched uranium from Russia's nuclear-weapons stockpile. The idea of privatizing USEC is controversial, since critics say it could create a monopoly in the world uranium market. In recent months Thomases has pressed the plan with senior Treasury officials.
Ironically, only last week Clinton announced a decision to restrict lobbyists' access to federal officials. The reform will apply to many other Beltway operators, of course-but the Clintons might want to make an exception for the First Lady's pal.

("With Friends Like Hillary," Michael Isikoff, Newsweek, August 14, 1995.)

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