The agreement was signed by visiting US Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham and his Russian counterpart Viktor Khristanko amid a new bid by the two countries to renew their cooperation in the fight against the spread of weapons of mass destruction.

Abraham said the United States would allocate 450 million dollars for the project -- about 100 million dollars of which will go to cash-strapped Russia for it keep up its end of the deal.

Rumyantsev said Russia would remove some 500 kilograms (1,100 pounds) of uranium from 17 sites in Eastern Europe and Southeast Asian countries that had links to Moscow in the Soviet era, according to ITAR-TASS.

The news agency quoted Rumyantsev as saying the project was the first "concrete step" being taken by the two Cold War era foes to make sure nuclear material does not enter the hands of so-called rogue states.

Neither side said when the removal of material will be completed.

Each country has to negotiate directly with the nations in which it helped set up nuclear research facilities and it appeared that Moscow and Washington were uncertain about how long the process would take.

The project is not related to the nuclear power plants that Russia and the United States have built across the world in direct competition to each other.

Russia is currently feuding with the United States over its decision to complete construction of Iran's first nuclear power plant.

As a concession, Moscow has said it will not launch the project until it wins a guarantee from Tehran that all of the spent fuel from the Bushehr plant is safely returned to Russia.

The United States and Israel fear the material can be reprocessed by the Islamic state into a low radiation "dirty bomb."

WAR.WIRE