MOSCOW DENIES EXISTENCE OF NUCLEAR SMUGGLING.

FederalSecurity Service deputy director Aleksei Pushkarenko said there are no”organized groups” involved in smuggling nuclear contraband, Itar-Tass saidMay 24. Gen. Pushkarenko, who is in charge of security at nuclear installations,said his agency has not registered a single case of the leaking ofweapons-grade uranium from Russia. He complained that the Germans hadnot supplied his agency with samples of the uranium Bonn said had come fromRussia. The same day, however, authorities in Saint Petersburg told Krasnayazvezda that they were tightening security around the Sosnovy Bor nuclearpower plant, and the German airline Lufthansa said that it would use geigercounters to monitor all baggage and passengers leaving CIS countries.

Meanwhile, Moscow radio reported, nuclear energy minister ViktorMikhailov challenged those who claim Moscow has a secret deal with Iran forthe sale of nuclear centrifuges to produce documents. Mikhailov said that nosuch sale had ever been arranged.

Yeltsin Warns Against Close Ties With WesternResearchers.