In a joint call to Presidents Vladimir Putin and George W. Bush, made public in Moscow, the Russian and US PEN centers urged that the environmentalist journalist who was convicted last month for spying be set free, arguing that his imprisonment only served forces interested in concealing the true nature of the environmental threat the world faces.

Pasko, a 40-year-old former reporter for the newspaper of the Pacific Fleet, was found guilty of illegally collecting classified information on navy manoeuvres with the aim of passing it on to Japanese media.

He has appealed against the court verdict, arguing that the charges against him were retribution for his exposure to Japanese media of alleged illegal dumping of nuclear waste by the Russian navy into the Sea of Japan.

Putin said earlier this month that he was ready to consider a presidential pardon.

But while he thanked Putin, Pasko said he would not seek a pardon, since that would be tantamount to admitting guilt.

His case has been taken up by several rights groups, including press watchdog Reporters Sans Frontieres (Reporters without Borders), which staged a demonstration at Russia's Aeroflot airline in Paris coinciding with Putin's brief visit there earlier this month.

"Pasko is innocent and not a spy. We decided to call on the president to pardon him to end this affair once and for all," the head of the Union for Hope organization, Vladimir Grilgenberg, told AFP.

Pasko, a 40-year-old former reporter for the newspaper of the Pacific Fleet was found guilty of illegally collecting classified information on navy manoeuvres with the aim of passing it on to Japanese media.

He has appealed against the court verdict, arguing that the charges against him were retribution for his exposure to Japanese media of alleged illegal dumping of nuclear waste by the Russian navy into the Sea of Japan.

Putin said earlier this month that he was ready to consider a possible presidential pardon.

But while he thanked Putin, Pasko said he would not appeal, since that would tantamount to admitting guilt.

His case has been taken up by several rights groups, including press watchdog Reporters Sans Frontieres (Reporters without Borders), which staged a demonstration at Russia's Aeroflot airline in Paris coinciding with Putin's brief visit.

The Union for Hope unites local politicians and lawmakers in this far eastern port city and its environs.

Meanwhile, a landmark 1993 deal to sell uranium from Russian nuclear warheads to fuel US power plants has hit an impasse over price, Interfax cited government sources as saying Monday.

Under the accord, USEC Inc. of Bethesda, Maryland, was to purchase 500 metric tonnes of the uranium.

Interfax confirmed earlier US press reports that because USEC and the Russians remain at odds over pricing, no shipments have been authorized for 2002.

"The negotiations that took place between Russia's Tekhsnabexport and the US company USEC last week have failed," the news agency quoted a source in the atomic energy ministry saying.

"They (the negotiations) will continue, but the position of the Russian ministry remains the same: protecting the interests of Russia," the official said.

The accord provides for the United States to purchase over 20 years about 500 metric tonnes of highly enriched uranium stripped from former Soviet warheads.

The proceeds would help employ thousands of Russian scientists and technicians, who are supposed to dilute the material for use as fuel in commercial nuclear power plants.

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