FEDERATION COUNCIL TO HEAR INFO ON KURSK LIFTING PREPARATIONS








MOSCOW, MARCH 13 /FROM RIA NOVOSTI'S NIKOLAI VENEDIKTOV/ -- Viktor Ozerov, chairman of the security and defense committee of the State Duma (the lower chamber of Russian parliament), will appear on Wednesday at the Federation Council (the upper chamber) with information on preparations for hoisting the sunken nuclear submarine Kursk. 


	Ozerov said that on his recent trip to Brussels, he met with the top of a European fund raising funds for the Kursk. Timeframe for the lifting operation will depend on the advent of finances, he said. 


	Ozerov announced that on Wednesday he will also inform members of the Federation Council of progress in implementing the U.S.-Russian intergovernmental agreement on the use of highly-enriched uranium retrieved from nuclear warheads. 


	The agreement on the utilisation of highly enriched uranium, signed on February 18, 1993, foresees supply to the United States of 500 tonnes of enriched uranium recovered from Russian nuclear warheads. The United States processes highly-enriched uranium into low-enriched for further use at American nuclear power facilities.