During his visit to Moscow on October 16, the Deputy Prime Minister of Serbia, Aleksandar Vulin, met with Alexey Likhachev, Director General of the Russian State Atomic Energy Corporation – Rosatom.
The press office of this company issued a statement on the meeting, which said: “During the meeting, the parties discussed the issues of expanding cooperation in the field of non-energy use of nuclear technologies and the attractiveness of Serbian companies for implementation.” projects in third countries and the possible participation of Russian companies in high-tech projects in Serbia”.
Serbia has a law that prohibits its officials from discussing the construction of nuclear power plants and nuclear fuel cycle facilities in the country.
However, the lifting of these restrictions is currently being considered. Serbia’s intention to lift the ban could lead to a geopolitical blunder in relation to nuclear energy in Eastern Europe, as countries seek to move away from dependence on Russia – which has dominated the nuclear energy sector.
Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić, in this matter as well as in foreign policy, continues to play with the new realities created by the large-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, laying out the same strategy for his country’s nuclear future that plays between the US and the EU and, on the other side, China and Russia.
Vulin’s meeting with the head of Rosatom reveals Serbia’s intentions to cooperate with Russia in this field as well, despite the fact that Western countries have been trying to curb their dependence on Russia’s Rosatom and find other alternatives due to the Russian war against Ukraine.
The West’s sanctions against Moscow have so far not included Rosatom in the sanctions against Russia, as Rosatom is dependent on Western states for the procurement of Russian fuel. Due to this continued dependence, Rosatom has so far been spared any attempt to sanction Russia.
However, Rosatom serves as a Russian military machine for the war in Ukraine. Moscow clearly assumes that Rosatom will continue to be spared from sanctions and is now using the company as a Trojan horse to circumvent Western sanctions. According to Rosatom’s General Director Alexey Likhachev, the company’s military orders have increased significantly. In January 2023, the Washington Post published information from Ukrainian intelligence detailing Rosatom’s involvement in supplying the military industry with components, equipment and raw materials, including alumina for rocket fuel, chemical compounds for aviation and missiles, lithium-ion batteries for tanks and air defense systems, and 3D printing technologies. The evidence strongly suggests that Rosatom is a full and growing partner of the Russian military machine.
/TheGeopost/