Rosatom is a Russian state-holding company that unites 360 different enterprises in the nuclear industry. It includes all civilian nuclear power plants in Russia, enterprises of the nuclear weapons complex, research organizations, and the nuclear icebreaker fleet. The company ranks second in the world in uranium reserves and fifth in uranium production, fourth in the world in nuclear energy production, and controls 40% of the global uranium enrichment services market and 17% of the nuclear fuel market.

This company is responsible for the development of the nuclear industry and energy in Russia, as well as for ensuring national security, specifically the creation and maintenance of nuclear weapons readiness. It is also responsible for fulfilling Russia’s international obligations in the field of nuclear energy use. The company is one of the key geopolitical tools of the Kremlin regime to expand its influence through nuclear energy worldwide, building nuclear power plants in various countries and competing with American and European nuclear companies.

In 2021, Vladimir Putin tasked the Moscow regime with increasing the share of nuclear energy in Russia’s total electricity production to 25%. According to a decree by the Government of the Russian Federation dated December 30, 2022, No. 4383-r, it is planned to commission 17 nuclear power units of various types, totaling 12.1 GW, and to decommission 13 units with a total capacity of 8.3 GW.

For isolated and remote regions of Russia, such as Siberia, the construction of small nuclear power plants is planned. This is likely to disperse industrial facilities away from Russia’s European borders. Considering the experience of long-range UAV strikes on Russia’s energy system over the past year, there is a high probability that in the event of a direct conflict between NATO and Russia, the energy infrastructure of Russia’s European part will be quickly destroyed by Allied long-range strike capabilities. The development of nuclear energy in Siberia will allow Russia to secure its military-industrial complex from total destruction in a hypothetical conflict.

To finance these projects, funds from both international businesses through “Rosatom” and loans will be actively attracted. Due to the absence of significant sanction pressure, the company has significantly increased its presence outside of Russia.

The company’s total revenue for 2022 amounted to $11 billion, with an expected result of $9 billion. The total value of Rosatom’s international projects exceeds $200 billion.
At the same time, in 2022, Rosatom paid over $3.1 billion to the Russian budget, which sponsors Russia’s aggression against Ukraine. It is worth noting that the company’s profits are expected to grow due to the lack of sanctions and the increase in international projects, which, in turn, will increase the funds available to the company for financing the Russian army, which shells and kills the civilian population of Ukraine.

Currently, the company is constructing 34 nuclear power units in 11 countries worldwide. All projects are being implemented as planned. The construction of nuclear power units is ongoing in Turkey, Egypt, China, Hungary, Bangladesh, India, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Armenia, Kyrgyzstan, and Myanmar.

Another direction Rosatom is promoting globally is small nuclear power plants. It is known that in November 2022, an agreement was signed with Myanmar and Kyrgyzstan for the construction of such plants.

The company also holds leading positions in uranium mining, enrichment, and fuel fabrication. Despite sanctions and losses in the US and European markets, the company has maintained its leadership positions and is expanding its production and activities worldwide. For example, the company is building nuclear facilities that are not power plants in Bolivia and Serbia—Centers for Nuclear Science and Technology.

Negotiations are underway for the construction of such facilities in Vietnam and Rwanda. Additionally, Russia and Belarus signed an agreement on nuclear fuel disposal.

In Europe, the company uses subsidiary structures to generate profit despite international pressure on Russia.

For example, the subsidiary company “Uranium One” in the Netherlands earned 222 million euros, tens of millions of which were transferred to “Rosatom.” The company extracts uranium in Kazakhstan and Tanzania and trades this raw material.

Another such company is the French state-owned company Framatome SA. Rosatom plans to cooperate with it to produce nuclear fuel used in reactors in Eastern European countries such as Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Slovakia.

In 2023, Framatome created a joint venture with Rosatom’s subsidiary “TVEL Fuel,” which aims to obtain permission from the German government to transfer technology to the city of Lingen, where they propose to organize production.

Overall, the EU countries, in contrast to the US, have not imposed sanctions against Rosatom. However, the US government has only imposed personal sanctions on 1,500 individuals and restrictions on Rosatom’s subsidiaries, such as JSC “Rosatom Arctic.”
Nevertheless, Rosatom supplies one-third of the enriched uranium used in American energy, earning about $1 billion annually from American companies.

The lack of significant sanctions, despite the company’s involvement in the occupation of the Zaporizhzhia NPP, allows Rosatom to import Western components allegedly for nuclear power plant construction. However, there is a high probability that they will be used in military equipment and weapons production.

In 2023, the company allocated additional funding of over $255 million to purchase necessary electronic equipment from Russian companies, which, through “parallel” imports (sanction-evading schemes), buy Western components and electronics. The main Russian companies tasked with this are JSC “KRAFTWAY CORPORATION PLC,” CJSC “NORSI-TRANS,” JSC “RIKOR ELECTRONICS,” JSC “PKK MILANDR,” JSC “MCST,” JSC NTC “MODUL,” JSC “CODE OF SAFETY,” CJSC “TIMTECH,” JSC “IVK,” LLC “EMZIOR,” LLC “PROSOFT-SYSTEMS.”

It is important to understand that the company “Rosatom” is one of Vladimir Putin’s powerful tools for implementing his geopolitical interests globally. Rosatom’s leading position in nuclear energy allows it to actively implement projects in various countries around the world and make them dependent on Russian nuclear technologies. The absence of effective sanctions against this company also allows it to actively purchase Western dual-use electronics.

The main consumers of Russian nuclear technologies are Russia’s closest allies and friends—Belarus, Turkey, Hungary, China, India, Uzbekistan, Serbia, Bangladesh, and others. In African countries, where pro-Russian juntas came to power following military coups (for example, in Niger, which has the largest uranium deposits), it is planned to transfer the right to extract uranium to Rosatom, which was previously handled by French companies.

This allows them to control their energy sector, as the Russian company Gazprom does, which significantly influences the political decisions of most European countries through gas and oil supplies. For example, Nord Stream 2, which has made Germany significantly economically dependent on Russia, or the supply of cheap gas to Hungary and Slovakia, where pro-Russian governments are in power, is trying to get the EU to lift sanctions against Russia at any cost.

However, Gazprom has faced significant sanctions, and the EU countries have taken a course to abandon Russian gas and seek alternatives by the 2030s. Thus, Gazprom, as a geopolitical tool, has suffered significantly, although not totally (as many countries try to circumvent sanctions through a shadow fleet), weakening, and reducing Moscow’s influence and financial capacity to continue the war with Ukraine.

This does not apply to Rosatom, which, due to the lack of significant sanctions, continues to develop its international business, sponsoring aggression against Ukraine. While finding new gas and oil suppliers is a realistic task, finding a quick replacement for nuclear reactors built on Russian technology is quite difficult. For example, in Hungary, where the Paks NPP is being built.

Russia is a major producer of nuclear fuel, and many countries, including EU countries, continue to trade with it. Currently, over 10 nuclear reactors in the EU continue to operate on Russian fuel. Although Finland, the Czech Republic, and Bulgaria are negotiating to replace Russian fuel with American fuel, existing contracts will allow them to do so no sooner than five years from now.

Meanwhile, France continues to buy Russian nuclear fuel and does not plan to stop cooperation. The same goes for Hungary and Slovakia, which are keen to do business with Russia and block sanctions against Rosatom.

Thus, Rosatom is a geopolitical tool of Putin that also needs to be fully weakened, like Gazprom. This is necessary to reduce Moscow’s ability to exert political pressure on European governments and to block additional opportunities to circumvent sanctions for importing Western dual-use goods into Russia, which are used not only in the construction of nuclear power plants but also in the production of military equipment and weapons.

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