Lithuania calls on the EU to sanction nuclear power plants built in Russia in Belarus

The Russian-built Astravets (Astravets) nuclear power plant, also known as the Belarusian one, could face challenges as Lithuanian Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte called on the European Union to impose sanctions on companies involved in its construction.

In an interview with the London Financial Times published on Sunday, the Lithuanian official said the EU was imposing “all kinds of sanctions” on President Alexander Lukashenko’s government, various sectors of the country’s economy and its ability to raise money in the financial sector Should consider markets.

Measures aimed at putting pressure on Belarus over the landing of a Ryanair passenger plane from Athens to Vilnius and the arrest of two passengers – a Belarusian journalist and his girlfriend – include sanctions against the companies involved in the construction of the Belarusian nuclear power plant.

The plant, which should have two reactors in operation in 2022, is being built by Atomstroyexport, a subsidiary of the Russian state-owned company Rosatom, near the town of Astravets in the Grodno region of Belarus. Russia also financed the plant with a government loan of up to $ 10 billion to be paid over a period of 25 years.

The first unit of the NPP went online on November 3, 2020 and is scheduled to go into operation in June. The second reactor will double the total capacity of the NPP to 2,400 megawatts (MW).

Belarus is the first country (besides Russia) to use Rosatom’s flagship VVER-1200 reactor. Compared to the previous VVER-1000, the VVER-1200 reactor is said to be safer, more advanced and able to increase economic performance thanks to the innovative Gen 3+ power unit.

Although the facility is equipped with the latest technology, neighboring Lithuania, whose capital Vilnius is only 50 km (31 miles) away, has been a vocal critic of the project since work began in 2011.

However, Rosatom believes that the nuclear facility in Belarus meets the highest international standards, as endorsed by the International Atomic Energy Agency, a watchdog of the United Nations. The concern has repeatedly denied Lithuanian security concerns about the facility. But Vilnius cut the flow of electricity from Belarus shortly after the Astravets plant opened in November last year.

Relations between Lithuania, an EU member, and Belarus have been at odds since the opposition protests in Belarus last year after President Lukashenko was re-elected into his sixth term.

Relations between the countries deteriorated further with the Ryanair incident in early May.

On May 23, pilots of the Ryanair passenger plane were reportedly informed by Belarusian authorities of a potential security threat on board and instructed to land the plane at Minsk National Airport. In Minsk, the Belarusian journalist Roman Protasevich and his girlfriend were taken from the plane and arrested.

Protasevich, 26, ran Telegram’s Nexta and Nexta Live channels, where more than million subscribers could follow information, photos and videos on last year’s opposition protests. He left Belarus and had been stationed in Lithuania since November 2020. The Belarusian court had previously included the station in the list of “extremist” materials.

Last week, the Lithuanian government announced that it would block flights to or from Lithuanian airports from crossing Belarusian airspace and urged Lithuanian citizens not to visit Belarus. In addition, Vilnius has introduced a ban on land transport. Lithuania shares a 679-kilometer border with Belarus, which is longer than any other neighboring country.