Russian President Vladimir Putin. Germany and other EU countries wish to impose sanctions on Russian nuclear energy.
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Germany, Poland and several other EU countries are pushing to impose sanctions on Russian nuclear energy because the bloc looks for new ways to chop the Kremlin’s revenue amid Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
27 European countries have imposed sanctions on Russian offshore oil, coal and significantly reduced natural gas purchases from Moscow within the aftermath of the war with Ukraine. Nonetheless, some nations consider it’s time to do more.
“Across the EU, we must proceed to change into independent of Russia,” Robert Habeck, Germany’s economics and climate minister, said over the weekend.
“The nuclear sector remains to be unique. There is no such thing as a justification for continuing to favor this area. Nuclear technology is a particularly sensitive area, and Russia can not be seen as a reliable partner in it,” he said.
In a document obtained by CNBC, Poland and the Baltic states also called for sanctions on civilian nuclear energy activities, in addition to a ban on the import of diamonds from Russia, the availability of IT and communication services for Russian state-owned firms, and the import of crude oil on the Druzhba pipeline. These countries are attempting to put pressure on the European Commission – the EU’s executive body that pulls up proposals for sanctions for approval by various EU governments.
“Between March and December 2022, Russia exported just over $1 billion price of materials and technologies that are relevant to the nuclear energy sector,” the Royal United Services Institute think tank said. report in February.
“This trade included exports to NATO and EU members. The truth is, not only has the worth of Russian nuclear-related exports not decreased since February 2022, the information reviewed by the writer suggests it could be on the rise, with a handful of loyal customers still willing to do business with the Russian nuclear sector. report.
In keeping with data published by the European statistical office Eurostat, in 2021 – a 12 months before Russia invaded Ukraine – Moscow was the third largest uranium supplier to the EU.
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Ukrainian officials, in addition to environmental groups, have previously criticized the European Union’s failure to curb the Kremlin’s nuclear revenues up to now.
The EU has imposed 10 sanctions packages on Russia within the 14 months because it invaded Ukraine, and one other round of measures is being prepared.
Asked whether the new set of measures against Russia would come with nuclear power, a European Commission spokesman said the institution didn’t comment on ongoing confidential talks.
“Preparations are underway for the eleventh package,” said a spokesman, “it takes time to get every part ready and ready.”
The talk is all the time complicated for the EU bloc, where any sanctions against Russia require a unanimous decision. Hungary and Bulgaria needed more time and persuasion during previous talks, which made the entire process uncertain.
Further emphasizing the complexity of the matter, Hungary announced in August that it might construct two new nuclear reactors with Russian state-owned company Rosatom.
— Sophie Kiderlin of CNBC contributed to this report.