Today the U.S. Federal court of the South District of Michigan held preparatory hearings concerning a dispute over the rights to a collection of stable isotopes currently under arrest by court. Representing the interests of the Russian Federation in this trial is the law firm “EPAM” acting on the instructions of the Russian Federal Agency of Federal Property Management and working in cooperation with the American law firm “Wolf Block”.

In the course of the proceedings, Dmitry Afanasiev, the lawyer of EPAM Law, informed the court as to the manner in which the debated isotopes were moved from the territory of the Russia Federation and gave a detailed report about the attempt of certain persons to misappropriate them by fraud. The representatives of the U.S. Prosecutor’s Office, the Canadian Ministry of Justice and the firm “High Technology Products” attended the hearing. The court postponed the hearings of the case in order to obtain certain documents from the Russian Embassy in the USA.

In the 1990s the collection of isotopes in question was moved away from Russia to Canada. Later, they were exported to the United States where they were seized in accordance with the decision of the U.S. Federal court of Michigan.