For the first time, the USA introduced sanctions against the nuclear industry of the Russian Federation

The new package of US sanctions is directed, among other things, against enterprises that are part of the Russian state corporation Rosatom. In particular, it is the company "Rusatom Overseas", which is responsible for the promotion of "Rosatom" projects abroad, writes dw.com.

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The USA imposed sanctions against 34 individuals and more than 120 legal entities from Russia and other countries. The corresponding list was published on Wednesday, April 12 by the US Treasury Department. It includes, among other things, enterprises that are part of the structure of the Russian state corporation Rosatom.

One of them is "Rusatom Overseas" JSC, which, as indicated on its website, is responsible for "promoting to the international market the range of Rosatom's non-energy solutions in the field of nuclear technologies", including in the field of hydrogen energy. Rusatom Overseas President Yevgeny Pakermanov also fell under the new US sanctions.

The newspaper "Kommersant" writes that the scale of international activities of "Rusatom Overseas" is small: the company's revenue in 2022, according to accounting, amounted to 7 billion rubles, net profit - 1,2 billion rubles. In the spring of 2021, the company started a project to build a hydrogen production complex on Sakhalin — together with the French company Air Liquide. However, on September 2, 2022, Air Liquide announced its withdrawal from the Russian Federation "due to the geopolitical context." Now on the Rusatom Overseas website it is indicated that the company is participating in the construction of "the world's highest nuclear research and technology center" in Bolivia.

In addition to "Rusatom Overseas", the list of the US Ministry of Finance also includes JSC "Research and Design Institute of Installation Technology - ATOMSTROY", which develops technologies for installation, repair and dismantling of reactor equipment of nuclear installations, as well as Kovrov Mechanical Plant and VPO "Tochmash" - they are engaged in the production of centrifuges for uranium enrichment.

The EU is also discussing sanctions against the nuclear industry of the Russian Federation

Rosatom did not comment on the introduction of US sanctions. Kommersant's interlocutors in the industry believe that, until decisions are made to introduce direct sanctions against the state corporation itself, smaller restrictions will not have a global impact on its activities.

Sanctions against the Russian nuclear industry could have been included in the tenth package of sanctions of the European Union, adopted at the end of February, but in the end this did not happen. The American publication Politico reported with reference to insiders that the EU, in order to circumvent Hungary's potential veto, considered the possibility of imposing sanctions against individual employees of Rosatom, not the entire state corporation, but rejected this idea.

On February 5, Ukraine introduced sanctions against Rosatom and other companies related to the nuclear industry of the Russian Federation. Russia "uses the nuclear industry as one of the elements of external expansion to put pressure on other states," Vladimir Zelenskyy said. The President of Ukraine emphasized that Moscow allows its military to fire at nuclear plants and use nuclear power plants as a cover for fire. "All these are sufficient reasons for Russia's nuclear industry to be under global sanctions," Zelensky said.

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