Ukraine urges EU to finally sanction Russia's nuclear giant Rosatom after new safety failures
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Russian nuclear energy company Rosatom should be included in a forthcoming package of EU sanctions, Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha wrote on Aug. 17.
Sybiha reissued the call after Politico reported that a Rosatom project in Egypt contains "violations of nuclear safety culture," and a number of "safety, security, and engineering failures."
"Ukraine has long warned European governments against any cooperation with Rosatom, and we believe it is time to restart serious talks about EU sanctions against it," Sybiha wrote on X.
"To the EU and its member states: please, do listen to Ukraine! Sadly, no other country in the world knows better why Moscow cannot be trusted in the atomic energy sphere."
Soviet attempts to cover up the world's largest ever nuclear disaster at Chornobyl, historians argue, helped precipitate the end of the Cold War as well as Ukraine's overwhelming vote for independence five years later.
Since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, its soldiers have damaged the Chornobyl containment facility and attacked the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, which they currently occupy.
Ukraine sanctioned Rosatom in February 2023 and has since called on the EU to do likewise. But not only does Rosatom have existing trade in Europe, but it is also expanding its footprint.
In Hungary, Rosatom is building a new reactor next to the country's only current nuclear power station, which itself stalled over the summer due to drought conditions.
The company is also behind the construction of Turkey's Akkuyu nuclear power plant, and is linked to a nuclear project in the German region of Lower Saxony.
Sybiha has allies in the EU who also want to see Rosatom sanctioned.
Lithuania's Foreign Minister Kestutis Budrys has repeatedly proposed listing Rosatom to "finally stop the sources of finances to Russia's war machine."
But EU sanctions require unanimity of all 27 member countries, and so far, there has not been an agreement.
"We cannot put economic interests above our security interests," Budrys told reporters in July.
"The only responsible policy against this backdrop is to cut all nuclear energy cooperation with Moscow, end all dependence on Russia in the nuclear energy sector, and sanction Rosatom," Sybiha said.
