Russia’s nuclear energy regulator, Rosatom, may be involved in the war effort in Ukraine, despite its civilian nature, US newspaper The Washington Post (WP) reported Friday.
The suspicions are based on a letter from a head of department of Rosatom, dated October 2022, obtained by Ukrainian secret services, about a meeting with the Ministry of Defense and representatives of the Russian military industry.
In the letter, to which the newspaper had access, the state-owned nuclear company reportedly offers to supply supplies to Russian military units and arms companies under sanctionss.
The message contains an attachment with “detailed descriptions of products available for use by the Russian military and arms industry,” according to WP.
In response to a request for comment, Rosatom said all of the claims were false.
Rosatom is not on the list of Western sanctions against Moscow’s interests, because Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24 last year.
That’s partly because of WP, according to WP “concerned about possible economic consequences” for its involvement in the civilian nuclear power industry worldwide, including in Western Europe and the United States.
In Slovakia, Russian-designed plants produce half of the country’s electricity, and the United States depends on Rosatom for about a quarter of its supplies of enriched uranium.
Rosatom controls about 30 percent of the global uranium enrichment market and about 17 percent of the reactor fuel market.
Of the roughly 450 nuclear power plants around the world, about 20% are of Russian design, Mark Hibbs, of the nuclear policy program of the Carnegie Endowment for Peace, a Washington-based think tank with centers in Moscow, told the paper. Beirut, Beijing, Brussels and New Delhi.
The Russian state-owned company currently operates in 23 nuclear units around the world, including India, Turkey and Egypt, with an order book of around US$200 billion (more than €184 billion at current exchange rates).
According to the website, Rosatom is a holding company with some 300 companies and organizations that employ more than 275,000 people.
It is also the largest producer of electricity in Russia, supplying 19.66 percent of the country’s energy needs.
After the invasion, Rosatom officials were accused by the Ukrainians of facilitating the occupation of the nuclear power plant in Zaporijia (southeast), the largest of its kind in Europe.
Zaporijia is one of four Ukrainian regions annexed by Russia in late September, along with Kherson, Donetsk and Lugansk, after Moscow did the same with Crimea in 2014.
Ukraine and the international community in general do not recognize the annexation of the four areas, the restoration of which is claimed by Kiev, among others, as a precondition for negotiations with Moscow.
Russia rejects such conditions, claiming that Ukraine must accept the new reality.
Source: DN
