Bush likely to scrap nuclear deal with Russia

The United States is likely to scrap a civilian nuclear pact with Russia soon as punishment for its war against Georgia last month, a U.S. official said on Thursday.

While the U.S. government has announced plans to give U.S. ally Georgia over $1 billion in reconstruction aid, it has yet to hit Moscow with any concrete sanctions for the military incursion deep into Georgian territory last month.
But the Bush administration is preparing to scuttle the civilian nuclear deal, which was intended to lift Cold War restrictions on trade and open up the U.S. nuclear market and Russia’s uranium fields to companies from both countries.

“The civilian nuclear agreement is likely to be pulled, and soon,” the U.S. official told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity.

“I don’t expect this will be the last in terms of consequences for Russia,” he added, but declined to speculate about what else the administration might do.

AlertNet