Fox News interview with IAEA Director General
Fox News’ Alex Hogan interviews IAEA Director Rafael Grossi, who outlines his current nuclear concerns and responds to Moscow’s claims that a Russian loss in Ukraine could trigger “nuclear war.”
Russia’s nuclear power agency Rosatom has been working to supply Russia’s military with raw materials for missile fuel, components and technology in a move to help it circumvent sanctions and continue the war in Ukraine, according to a Washington report. Post found on Friday.
According to a letter obtained by Ukrainian intelligence from a Rosatom chief in October 2022, the agency referred to a meeting with the Defense Ministry and offered to provide assistance to the Russian military and arms manufacturers under international sanctions.
Russian weapons manufacturers reportedly included missile systems producer Almaz-Antey, unguided bomb and missile delivery systems manufacturer NPK Tekhmash, producer of the infamous Iskander ballistic missiles Vysokotochniye Kompleksy, along with several manufacturers developing rocket launchers, cluster munitions, aircraft, armored vehicles. vehicles and tanks.
Rescuers work at the site where an apartment building was badly damaged by a Russian missile attack, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in Dnipro, Ukraine, on January 14, 2023.
(Press service of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine/Handout via REUTERS)
A WORKER AT A UKRAINE NUCLEAR PLANT SAYS RUSSIA EVACUATED ITS STAFF BEFORE THE ATTACKS IN ZAPORIZHZHIA
It is not clear when Ukrainian intelligence obtained the letter, although reports emerged earlier this month that Kyiv was pressuring the European Union to attack the Russian energy company in its next round of sanctions.
Despite Rosatom’s involvement in the illegal occupation of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant since March 2022 and appeals by Kyiv and NGOs, it has evaded Western sanctions.
The United States and the European Union have banned Russian oil, natural gas and coal in a move to hamper Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war efforts, but Rosatom stayed out of the sanctions crosshairs.
The Biden administration reportedly considered sanctioning the Russian nuclear power giant in the face of the onslaught of the invasion, but ultimately decided against it as the White House sought cleaner energy alternatives.
A Russian serviceman patrols the territory of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Energodar on May 1, 2022.
(ANDREY BORODULIN/AFP via Getty Images)
US SENDS ANOTHER $2.5 BILLION IN MILITARY AID TO UKRAINE
The United States has stopped short of banning energy imports from Russia when it comes to mineral fuels, including uranium, which accounts for about half of all uranium needs for US nuclear power plants, Reuters reported last year. .
In 2019, Russian imports of mineral fuels totaled $13 billion according to the US Trade Commission, although this figure dropped slightly in 2022.
US imports of mineral fuels remained the main good imported by Washington from Russia during the first seven months of the war in Ukraine, but fell 17% from the previous year, representing 43% of total imports compared with 60% in the first seven months of 2021, said a report by the US Trade Representative in December 2022.
Russian President Vladimir Putin listens to head of Rosatom state nuclear power corporation Sergei Kirienko (right) during a meeting with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban (unseen) at the Novo-Ogaryovo state residence in Moscow on January 14, 2014 in Moscow, Russia.
(Sasha Mordovets/Getty Images)
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European nations including Poland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania have called for Rosatom to be hit with international sanctions, and it’s unclear whether the agency’s actions to help Russia evade sanctions will prompt the Biden administration to take further action.
Fox News could not immediately reach the State Department for comment.
