Reduce Russia’s nuclear influence in the EU and impose direct sanctions against Rosatom – DiXi Group in the Bundestag
During an advocacy trip to Germany, DiXi Group’s General Manager for Security and Sustainability Olena Lapenko met with Anton Hofreiter, a member of the Bundestag and chairman of the Committee on European Affairs. At the meeting, they discussed possible ways to introduce sanctions against Rosatom.
Until now, the EU has not imposed sanctions directly on the Russian nuclear giant, and only certain subsidiaries of Rosatom have been included in Western sanctions lists. This is because some member states still depend on Russian uranium and nuclear fuel supplies.
‘However, the experience of the United States and some EU countries demonstrates that this dependence can and should be reduced,’ says Lapenko, ‘For example, the United States has approved a gradual ban on imports of Russian uranium by 2040. Also, some EU countries have already decided to gradually abandon Russian nuclear fuel and signed the relevant contracts.”
The DiXi Group CEO also recalled the APIS consortium, which was launched in early 2023. Its goal is an accelerated programme to implement a secure fuel supply for VVERs, led by Westinghouse, which is co-financed by Euratom with €10 million. The project will last for three years and has 12 partners from eight countries.
“The consortium has several goals, including standardisation of fuel licensing and rapid development of advanced and improved VVER-440 and VVER-1000 fuel designs for the EU and Ukraine. What role does Rosatom have in this policy?Our proposal is to introduce a unified EU policy on diversification of fuel supplies for VVER reactors’, Olena Lapenko.
Anton Hofreiter, Member of the Bundestag and Chairman of the Committee on European Affairs, agrees that the European Union needs to adopt a unified policy in the fight against the Russian nuclear machine.
“The Green Party supports the introduction of sanctions against Rosatom. We are working on finding ways to stop cooperation with the Russian nuclear corporation, but it is still difficult to find a consensus with all EU countries,’ the MP said.
DiXi Group also shared the results of its analytical work on limiting cooperation and imposing sanctions against Rosatom.
The material was prepared by DIXI GROUP with the support of the International Renaissance Foundation within the framework of the project ‘Improving Energy Security for Tomorrow’. The material reflects the position of the authors and does not necessarily reflect the position of the International Renaissance Foundation.
