Moscow, Wednesday.

RUSSIAN secret agents have caught two men trying to steal nearly 10kg

of uranium from the once-secret Arzamas-16 nuclear weapons complex in

central Russia.

The two men had managed to steal the low-grade uranium inside

Arzamas-16. But they were detained with the help of the plant's internal

security officials and the uranium was recovered.

The report came after 10 days of often bad-tempered debate between the

Kremlin and the West over the alleged smuggling of weapons-grade nuclear

materials from Russia.

Western governments, particularly Germany, have accused the Russians

of lax security at their weapons plants and research institutes and

expressed fears that bomb-making materials could find their way to Third

World countries.

Russia denied it had lost any nuclear materials and complained the

West was trying to undermine the Russian nuclear industry by a

propaganda offensive.

Arzamas-16, near Nizhny Novgorod east of Moscow, is a closed city

where uranium is mined, nuclear research carried out, and nuclear

weapons manufactured.