Lithuania has developed new proposals for the imposition of sanctions against Russian nuclear energy, with the help of which it will be possible to circumvent the Hungarian veto. Remember that Budapest opposes the sanctions against Rosatom.
Lithuania proposes to make an exception for Hungary: in particular, to give 9 years to the Hungarian power station of Paks to put an end to the cooperation with Rosatom, which is working on its extension project. It is also proposed to allow all EU countries to phase out, within 2 years, all agreements already concluded with Rosatom.
This is stated in a document prepared by the Lithuanian Foreign Ministry, which was reviewed by Reuters.
The new sanctions proposed by Lithuania would prohibit investments in Russian civil nuclear power, prevent any new agreement with Rosatom and stop imports of enriched uranium from Russia, except for France and other countries with contracts. existing with Rosatom.
Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis explained that the proposed plan creates an “onion effect”. According to the Lithuanian minister, “this means that he has the choice between several layers. And we can clarify the points on which we disagree.”
“But there are still aspects that we can sanction. With regard to board members, it can be new contracts, it can be a lot of things, but we have to take into account the interests of EU countries that have existing contracts and existing projects that need to be protected,” Landsbergis told reporters.
The EU has imposed 10 sanctions packages since Russia invaded Ukraine, but Russia’s nuclear industry has not been hit by sanctions so far. In February, the European Parliament adopted a resolution in which it called for refraining from importing uranium from Russia.
